Open mike: Focus on Fitou

The South of France seems all the rage now - we even got a Fitou on the market over here in Permafrostestan! As I'm always interested in trying new wines from areas I have little or no experience with, I bought it today.

WTN: Château des Erles Fitou 2002 (J & F Lurton) 14% 32€

The package pleases my aesthetic senses: the lable is elegant and simple.

A little googling would suggest that the wine is composed of Grenache, Carignan and Syrah in equal amounts. The nose is quite personal, with some aspects much to my liking, others not at all. There is vibrant fruit, yet it has some savoury, even vegetal, aromas. It is meaty and strawberry-like and peppery - all the grape varieties show themselves as themselves yet are working together to make the sum greater than the parts. Unfortunately there is a jammy aspect to the fruit and the oak is rather heavyhanded. Yet so often when I find that oak is used heavily, it detracts from all else. In this wine, however, it doesn't obfuscate the fruit aromatics.

The palate is full bodied, very sweet in its fruit, but has lovely acidity and fine tannins which make this a very moreish wine. Unfortunately the oak shows as a toffeed and Christmas spice aspect on the aftertaste. But, on the happier side of things, the aftertaste has quite a prominent minerality also. This seems to have the structure to age well.

There are a couple times in a year when I hope to drink a very fruity wine. With less oak, this would be a candidate for those couple days. As such, even with its admirable qualities, I won't be buying it again.

I hope to learn more about Fitou, and hope that someone else will open one up also!

-O-

Interesting, I don't drink many wines from Fitou, although have enjoyed the few examples I tasted. That said, not sure what their distinguishing characteristics would be in comparison to wines from the rest of the broader region. Which brings the question is the terroir really that similar across the Languedoc? Most heavily marked by the sun?

Otto, that sounds like an interesting OM. None in the cellar so have to look around, are there any whites in the area of Fitou?

Interesting, I don't drink many wines from Fitou, although have enjoyed the few examples I tasted. That said, not sure what their distinguishing characteristics would be in comparison to wines from the rest of the broader region. Which brings the question is the terroir really that similar across the Languedoc? Most heavily marked by the sun?

Well, I drew a blank up here but should be some good ones in London Rahsaan?Hows RSJ?

Rahsaan?Hows RSJ?

RSJ is great. Haven't eaten there yet this trip, but I have been availing myself of their retail operation as often as possible.

Am getting together with Nicos and a visiting S Yaniger on Wednesday. Should be interesting/fun.

Great stuff, say hi to Nicos!!

That said, not sure what their distinguishing characteristics would be in comparison to wines from the rest of the broader region. Which brings the question is the terroir really that similar across the Languedoc? Most heavily marked by the sun?

Just what I was hoping to find out!

In my first two decades as a wine-lover (the 60s and 70s), Fitou was the only appellation for table wines in Languedoc-Roussillon which enjoyed AOC status, the rest being simple VDQS. As such it was a partial exception to the disdain with which one then regarded the wines from the area, only to be ordered as a courtesy when passing through the region.

However in the last decade or so, Languedoc-Roussillon has been producing wines to be taken very seriously, and yet I realize that there is not one single Fitou producer on my personal, and quite extensive, radar screen of French wines. The other sub-regions got their AOC in 1985 and have sired a number of very fine producers, of which Mas Jullien (CdL), Peryre Rose (CdL), Alquier (Faugères), Mas Champart (Saint-Chinian), Aupihlac (CdL Montpeyroux), Clos Marie (CdL Pic Saint-Loup), Voulte- Gasparets (Corbières) and Gauby and Gardiès (Côtes du Roussillon Villages) spring to mind.

So many thanks for proposing Fitou as a subject for Open Mike, which gives me an incentive to up-date my awareness.

As luck would have it, this month’s edition of la Revue du Vin de France contains a report on Fitou. From this I learn that the main grape variety moulding “the strong Fitou character” is Carignan and that there are two distinct parts of the appellation, the coastal area and the inland uplands. (But the World Atlas of Wine reports a trend to “civilize” the wines by adding a greater proportion of Syrah and Grenache.) Confusingly, in large parts of the appellation’s area, the producers may opt to label their red wines either Corbières or Fitou, whilst whites and rosés must be labelled Corbières. The following producers are commended –

Domaine Bertrand-Bergé (a one star producer in le Classement 2007)
Domaine Les Milles Vignes
Domaine Grand Guilhem
Château Wiala
Les Vignerons de Mont Tauch

Before I read this article I went out on a blind search and this gave me a perception of the perplexity of consumers faced by a choice of French wine without the aid of a radar screen. Almost at random I picked out from a supermarket shelf the following –


ROCFLAMBOYANT FITOU AOC – Cuvée Tradition – Les Vignerons de Mont Tauch – EUR 4,91.

Good first impression at cellar temperature. Fresh dark fruit aromas with mineral hints and nice lively palate with good grip and some anis and spice notes. As the wine warmed up and took air, it filled out and took on body but at the same time coarsened and lost liveliness with some liquorice and bitter notes appearing towards the rear of the palate. No difficulty here in not finishing the bottle but let me not exaggerate. The wine was very decent and honestly robust and would be a good accompaniment for, say, a barbecue.

(Les Vignerons de Mont Tauch are a co-operative and the largest producer in Fitou. Their range is quite big and contains more ambitious cuvees priced around EUR 25 ex-cellars.)


I will now keep my eyes open for Fitou in the hope of finding something to live up to the appellation’s historic eminence and to rival the products of Mas Jullien and so on.

Tim, lots of great info there! Thanks!

-O-

Yeah great Tim. Mont Tauch is here (the only Fitou) but on allocation so hard to track down without knowing the rep! Will keep looking/emailing/begging.

Otto, this reply comes a tad late, but since I had a note of an older Fitou I thought I'd post it now.

1996 Fitou 50 ans, Mont Tauch
As you can see from the vintage, the wine is not 50 years old, but is a special cuvée that was produced for some jubilee. Presumablu to celebrate the first 50 years of the cooperative Mont Tauch.

Colour: Rather dark red. Still with slight hint of purple.
Nose: Rather full and spicy. Black pepper and raspberry. Some smoke. Animal notes. A bit coarse.
Palate: Coarse, raw and herbal taste with a very earthy bitterness. Fresh acidity. Moderate tannins. Bitter, mean aftertaste. Not very enjoyable at all...

It seems like these wines are not destined for cellaring, if one is to judge from this specimen.
Cheers, Anders