Tuesday 21 April 2020

Some wine surprises

I was looking for some wine on the racks the other day when I found a 2012 bottle of Madiran and a 2012 bottle of 2012 Irancy red. Both wines were bought in French supermarkets for very reasonable prices years ago.

Terasses D'Autan Madiran Red 2012 AOC

Madiran is a village in the South West of France in Gascony between the towns of Pau and Auch. The red wine produced here is made primarily from the Tannat grape and it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The wine is strong in tannin and wine producers allow micro oxygenation of the wine to soften the tannin.This is termed micro-bullage in French. This wine was still going strong after 8 years in the bottle and would probably age for years more. It is a style of wine rich in red and black fruits but dry and with full body.the taste lingered on the palate for a long time. It was concentrated and complex and well balanced and had all the hallmarks of a very good wine that will keep for a long time. This wine had a taste of the regio. It is a wine that was designed to be consumed with good food. We had it with a shoulder of lamb from Devon. Have you never heard of it? You can still find the latter years of it on the web and in a supermarket. I highly recommend it. It is exceptional value for money.

https://www.e-leclerc.com/catalogue/rayons/alimentaire/boissons-avec-alcool/aoc---madiran-terrasses-d-autan,1153404310

Heimbourger Irancy Red 2012 AOC

Irancy is one of my favourite Burgundy wines, it is produced in the Auxerrois area in the Yonne Department in the far north of the Burgundy region. The village or commune is not far from Chablis and the kimmeridgian based soils are highly suited to the production of red wine from the Pinot Noir grape. Winemakers are permitted to use up to 10% of the César black grape which is rich in tannin. I was not expecting this wine to last so long but it aged very well. It still had the cherry flavour typical of wines from the village. But the wine had matured to develop a flavour of plums as well. The wine was dry on the palate with a medium body and it still retained its complexity and concentration and unique taste of the region. We drank it with free range roast chicken but it would also go down well roasted red meats. You can buy this wine in the Leclerc and Carrefour supermarkets. My father-in-law was born not far from the commune of Irancy and this is one of the reasons why we can identify wines from the area without seeing the label. We enjoyed so much of this wine with my late father-in-law and it brought back so many fond memories. This made us forget about Covid-19 for a while. It is difficult to find this wine in the UK, but in France you can buy it for a reasonable price. It is excellent value for money.

https://www.domaine-heimbourger.com/en/vins/irancy.html

https://www.carrefour.fr/p/vin-rouge-irancy-2014-domaine-heimbourger-3531518980043

So, there you have it there are many unexpected pleasures if you keep your wine in a cool dark place. And you do not have to spend a fortune.

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