On the nose meaty and herbal notes. In the mouth a light and raw texture, a beeswax finish and not much of an aftertaste. To complement its mediocrity, the wine displays a pale and cloudy appearance. At 10.5% the alcohol content is surprisingly low for a red wine.
As my wife said: “it tastes a bit like table wine from Italy”. It could be acceptable below 10 EUR, but at 27 EUR at the fancy Lavinia wine shop on Boulevard de la Madeleine in Paris I find it a rip-off.
This Bio wine is produced by Pascal & Annick Quenard according to Biodynamic principles. No sulfites are added.
The producer romantically defines it “an artisanal wine”. To me it is more a subsistence wine of the past, when people where growing grapes among other agricultural products and making wine to quench their thirst more than for pleasure-seeking.
Thanks to technical evolution, both on the field and in the cellar, these kind of wines have almost gone extinct. I personally don’t think it is worth resuming them for the shake of their supposedly natural characteristics.
Although I hate wasting wine, what was left of this bottle ended down the sink.
Don’t get me wrong, I deem the efforts of many producers to make more natural wines praiseworthy. Some achieve great results and deserve to be compensated for their dedication. On the other side, those that are in the fad mainly to get their products sold to the naturalist’s market niche should not be rewarded, but rather pushed out of the market.
Given my previous experience, I was suspicious of the wine even before buying it, but couldn’t resist the temptation of trying a varietal wine made with Mondeuse Noir, a grape variety I didn’t even know it existed.
Mondeuse is an ancient red wine grape variety native to eastern France, associated specifically with the Savoie region. According to some report I read, classic Mondeuse wines are aromatic with a deep purple color, a pronounced acidity and considerable tannins. Definitely not what this wine is like.
Country: France
Region: Savoie
Grapes: Mondeuse
Type: Red
Vintage: 2016
Producer: Pascal & Annick Quenard
Price Range: Premium (30-50 US$)