Maris Minervois Organic Syrah 2011

I drank this wine with my lunch at the Brasserie Blanc in Berkhamsted last week. It is from Robert Eden an Australian wine maker who has started to use bio-dynamic techniques in the vineyard and "natural techniques" in the winery. This wine is unfiltered and unacidified and it is not chaptalised ever. He also uses "natural" yeasts.

The wine is accessible to the palate now but it will keep. It has all the concentration and complexity of a very good wine with a long length on the palate. We drank the wine with a Boeuf Bourguignon. You may well be asking why I did not try a red Burgundy; well I could not see one on the card. The waitress recommended this wine and at about £20 a bottle, at a restaurant price, it was well worth it despite the varietal labelling.


I have written about organic wines before and bio-dynamic vineyard techniques.  I am sceptical about all the mysticism surrounding Rudolph Steiner and Maria Thun and their agricultural "theories".

Domaine Maris is a well made and structured wine but it does not taste any better than lots of other wines from the region which do not follow bio-dynamic techniques. I certainly could not tell the difference until I read the back label.

There is no scientific proof that planting according to lunar cycles and  flower or fruit days works. Surely, it is far better to farm and  harvest crops  according to the weather. As far as wine is concerned matching the grape variety to the climate and soil is of prime importance. It is also far better that wine making is an artisan rather than an industrial process. Science must play its part to improve the quality of the wine rather than engineer it to maximise profits and convenience.

I have a feeling that the real improvements to wine production are obtained from the de-industrialisation of both vine growing and wine making rather than superstition.

Three cheers, however and therefore, to Robert Eden and Raymond Blanc who have brought such good wine to our tables for a reasonable price. You can buy this wine in France for less than 10 Euros a bottle but not in a restaurant of course.

http://www.languedocwineshop.com/chateau-maris-maris-organic-2010.html

http://www.naturalselectionwines.com/chateau-maris/

Some of the producers in the Languedoc are starting to use Cru Classé de Languedoc on the label including Domaine Maris themselves. Some wine writers are not happy about this. They see it as just another marketing ploy. Is it time for another rant about varietal labelling and other marketing techniques? It won't make any difference but as long as we can get good wine I am prepared to suffer marketing blurb.

http://www.labivin.net/article-grand-cru-et-grand-vin-du-languedoc-65396898.html

http://www.mariswine.com/en/