by Bob Ross » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:08 pm
Jancis has replied to my question about what she means by the word "rustic"; as Robin notes, she doesn't define it in the OCW3, although she uses it 31 times, 29 times for specific wines or wine regions, and twice to describe people [Oregon and Hesiod's home area]. I wasn't able to find the word in her thousands of tasting notes on the Purple Pages:
I'm surprised ["rustic"] cannot be found in my tasting notes as I feel as though I use it quite often for wines made ultra traditionally, typically made quite oxidatively with relatively tough tannins and fairly low fruit weight on the mid palate, often bottled relatively late. Many southern European wines are still made this way. I will look out for a good example.
***
I had great fun electronically paging through the OCW3, and reading the various entries using the word "rustic". I learned a great deal, and you may too.
Regards, Bob
Brézème curious small area just south of Valence in the northern rhône which claims the right to prefix its name to the Côtes du Rhône appellation and produces sturdy, rather rustic reds from Syrah grapes.
Gran Negro rustic red-fleshed grape grown to a limited extent in northern Spain, particularly Valdeorras. Probably identical to grand noir de la calmette, it was introduced after the phylloxera invasion.
Malvar white grape commonly grown around Madrid producing slightly rustic wines but with more body and personality than the ubiquitous Airén. Plantings totalled about 2,500 ha/6,200 acres in the mid 1990s.
Perth Hills picturesque, rapidly growing warm region just west of Perth in western australia. The region has moved from one of rustic, cottage craft to more polished wine-making in the wake of the recent arrivals Millbrook Winery and Western Range Wines.
Moravia is also the name of a common dark-skinned grape planted in central Spain. It produces rustic wines, particularly in south eastern La Mancha.
Quincy rapidly expanding, historic white wine appellation in the greater Loire region producing racy dry wines from Sauvignon Blanc grapes from about 170 ha/420 acres of sand and gravel on the left bank of the Cher tributary. Its long history (it was the second appellation created, after Châteauneuf-du-Pape) and early popularity owe much to its proximity to river transport (especially in comparison with the much smaller nearby appellation reuilly). The wines tend to be a little more rustic, less delicate, than those made in Menetou-Salon and Sancerre to the east.
Humagne Rouge relatively rare red wine grape of the Swiss Valais region whose wines are wild, rustic, and relatively high in tannins.
Lalande-de-Pomerol appellation to the immediate north of Pomerol that is very much in the shadow of this great red wine district of Bordeaux. It includes the communes of Lalande-de-Pomerol and Néac and produces lush, Merlot-dominated wines which can offer a suggestion, sometimes a decidedly rustic suggestion, of the concentration available in a bottle of fine Pomerol but at a fraction of the price.
Vacqueyras tends to be slightly more rustic than good Gigondas, but producers such as Domaines des Amouriers and de la Monardière and Ch des Tours, now operated in conjunction with Ch Rayas of châteauneuf-du-pape, at least back up that rusticity with power and concentration.
Santenay somewhat forgotten village and spa in the Côte de Beaune district of Burgundy producing red wines from Pinot Noir and occasional whites. The soils in Santenay are a little richer in marl than most of the Côte d‚Or, producing red wines tending to the rustic more than the elegant.
Ruby Cabernet red vinifera grape variety bred in and for california in 1949. Dr H. P. Olmo of the University of California at davis (see also emerald riesling, carnelian) crossed Carignan with Cabernet Sauvignon in an attempt to combine Cabernet characteristics with Carignan productivity and heat tolerance. The slightly rustic Ruby Cabernet enjoyed a heyday in California in the 1960s and is still the state's ninth most planted red wine grape (though is not as popular as the red-fleshed hybrid Rubired).
Fer alias Fer Servadou (and many other aliases), is a characterful black grape variety traditionally encouraged in a wide range of the sturdy red wines of south west france. In madiran, where it is often called Pinenc, it is a distinctly minor ingredient, alongside Tannat and the two Cabernets. In gaillac, where it is known as Brocol or Braucol, it has also lost ground. It is technically allowed into wines as far north as Bergerac, but today it is most important to the red wines of the Aveyron département, entraygues, estaing, and the defiantly smoky, rustic marcillac.
Faugères reliable appellation in the languedoc in southern France. Almost 2,000 ha/4,900 acres of vineyard, mainly at relatively high altitudes (often well above 250 m/820 ft) on schistous foothills of the Cévennes, look down on the plains around Béziers, where vines are dedicated to vin de pays and vin de table. The Faugères appellation vineyards are planted with quintessentially Mediterranean grape varieties to produce big, southern reds that taste like a cross between the spice of the southern rhône and wild, rustic corbières to the south west.
Tinta Barroca By no means as highly prized as the other leading port grapes, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz (Aragónez), Barroca produces reasonably well-structured but slightly jammy, rustic wines which can be useful in a blend.
Tannat distinctive, tough, deep black-berried vine variety most famous as principal ingredient in madiran, where its inherent astringence is mitigated by blending with Cabernet Franc, some Cabernet Sauvignon, and fer, and wood ageing for at least 20 months. If Madiran is Tannat‚s noblest manifestation, slightly more approachable, if more rustic, wines are made to much the same recipe for Côtes de st-mont, as well as for the distinctively hard reds and rosés of irouléguy and the rare reds and pinks labelled tursan and béarn.
Condado Viejo is a rancio style of wine aged in a solera and resembling a somewhat rustic Jerez oloroso.
Gigondas good-value red and rosé wine appellation in the southern rhône. From about a third of the total area, the best wines are remarkably similar to good red châteauneuf-du-pape, and overall wine standards are high, even if Gigondas wine-making can sometimes be more rustic than high-tech.
Alicante city on Spain's Mediterranean coast long associated with strong, rustic wines which now gives its name to a denominated wine zone of 14,250 ha/35,200 acres.
Somontano Bodega Pirineos, once the region‚s co-operative, together with the ultra-modern, recently created wineries Viñas del Vero (vintage 1986) and Enate (1991), make virtually all Somontano‚s wine. ... The modern, crisp wines now produced have nothing in common with Somontano‚s traditional, rustic wines.
Fronsac Wines made in the 1960s and 1970s were often both austere and slightly rustic. The 1980s saw considerable refinement of techniques, and investment in wine-making equipment, notably some new barrels, so that Fronsac added suppleness to its density. It does not have the lush character of Pomerol but can offer a keenly priced alternative to more famous red bordeaux, with the juicy fruit of a St-Émilion and the ageing potential of a Médoc.
Corton is the sole grand cru appellation for red wine in the côte de beaune and covers several vineyards which may be described simply as Corton or as Corton hyphenated with their names. While all Corton tends to be a dense, closed wine when young, Bressandes is noted for its comparative suppleness and charm; Renardes for its rustic, gamey character; Perrières for extra finesse; and Clos du Roi for the optimum balance between weight and elegance.
Sangiovese has reached its heights in Umbria in the wines produced by lungarotti in the Torgiano docg, and, as Rosso di Montefalco, also gives good results in the hillside vineyards of the small Montefalco DOC zone between Assisi and Terni, where it is blended with a small percentage of the local sagrantino. This last variety, which in the past yielded notably rustic wines high in tannins, demonstrated in the 1990s that it can respond well to more careful vinification and ageing techniques.
But Limoux is essentially a sparkling wine town. Blanquette de Limoux is the region‚s most famous product, sparkling wine containing Mauzac, Chardonnay, and Chenin Blanc. The crémant de Limoux was devised in 1990 for less rustic, more internationally designed sparkling wines made mainly from Chenin and Chardonnay (together a maximum of 90 per cent), plus Mauzac and a maximum of 10 per cent Pinot Noir.
The Solopaca DOC in the province of Benevento, with almost 500 ha/12,300 acres, produces an interesting, if rustic, red wine with occasional notes of tobacco, from a blend of 45 to 60 per cent sangiovese grapes, Aglianico (10 to 20 per cent), piedirosso (20 to 25 per cent), and other red varieties.
Malbec has been declining in popularity in France and by 2000 was planted on a total of only 6,100 ha/15,000 acres of French vineyard,for it has many of the disadvantages of Merlot (sensitivity to coulure, frost, downy mildew, and rot) without as much obvious fruit quality. Indeed it can taste like a rather rustic, even shorter-lived version of Merlot, although when grown on the least fertile, high, rugged, limestone vineyards of Cahors it can occasionally remind us why the English used to refer to Cahors as 'the black wine'
Piemonte's workhorse grape, supplying the region‚s everyday red wines (and an increasing number of smart ones), is barbera, grown virtually everywhere there are vineyards in the provinces of alba, asti, and Alessandria. Robust and warming, if at times rather rustic and sharply acidic, it has suffered in the past from overcropping and indifferent wine-making, but the 1980s and the 1990s saw significant improvement in quality.
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer In the 18th century, many villages produced red wine, particularly those in what we now know as the Bereich Zell (see German history). By the early 19th century, white wine had taken the lead and the elbling vine covered nearly two-thirds of the vineyard area. It still predominates in the Bereich Obermosel, where, as in Luxembourg, it supplies a clean, fresh, rather rustic wine from yields in copious vintages that once were as high as 220 hl/ha (12.5 tons/acre) or more.
From the Côte Chalonnaise, the whites of Rully, Mercurey, and Montagny can offer economical, if slightly rustic, versions of the grander names of the Côte d‚Or.
What do you think about subjective terms like "rustic," and for extra credit, is it reasonable to divide tasting note styles between "poets" and "scientists"?</i>