Wine Quest: Montpellier (Millésime Bio)
Our quest for wine gems continues, this time we were looking for organic wines at the Milésime Bio Exposition at Montpellier.
We want to share our experience at the fair, but first things first: What is an organic wine? As many other organic products, in order to be organic, a wine needs to be produced with organic grapes, this means to not use chemical substances during the process such as pesticides, artificial fertiliser etc. Does this change the taste and structure of the wine? That is a question that we will answer in another post however, we can say that organic wines are as good as the conventional ones, it all depends on your preferences.
Now that that’s clear, buying organic, nature or conventional wine is up to you (we have it all) however for those interested in going “green” we can tell you that there are hundreds of winemakers transitioning to organic agriculture*. That means, there are plenty of options and like everything in life you have to try and try to find the “real deal”.
Let’s talk about the fair: there were about 2500 exhibitors from over 10 different countries. As well as other wine fairs, there are three days to see as much as you can. This particular fair is strictly professional so, no, we cannot simply get a basket and buy all the bottles we want to bring home. The point of this kind of events is to allow distributors and importers to meet each other, meet their current suppliers and to discover new ones to make business with.
It’s a bit hard to see them all in three days (it’s a lot of tasting and walking) but we did our best and so here they are, our favourites:
- Le Clos Constantin: A young winemaker, settled on the Lazarc, who produces cuvées full of the soil’s sprit. (Balsatic)
- The Loxarel cellar: white wines produced from black raisins. Wines that come from fruity and not too heavy soil, which are remarkable face to the sunniest region in Europe. Who said anything about global warming?
- Grigioramato: although we normally tend to work with smaller winemakers (we like the quality that comes from the passion and love put into the small wine yards) We really liked Grigioramato and their original bottles, inspired by the clay vessels used as part of the fermentation process in wine making.
- Terra Vita: Here we have the astonishing wines. No matter the cuvée, we have the impression that these wines are alive. A perfect balance, we really liked their wine. 20 to 25 euros...it is worth!
- Château Claud Bellevue: A lovely couple, charming and endearing, this couple knows how to vinify and enhance their terroirs. What more could you ask for?
These lovely winemakers are not yet in Luxembourg but, hey! That's what we are here for. Very soon you will find some, if not all, of them in our shop then you can give us your opinion and tell us if we were right. Remember, for now you just chill and bottle up!
See you at our next stop.
*https://avis-vin.lefigaro.fr/economie-du-vin/o138341-qu-est-ce-que-le-vin-bio