2009 Carmarans Mauvais Temps

2009 Nicolas Carmarans Mauvais Temps

Shit weather indeed….fitting as it’s about to piss down outside.

Nicolas Carmarans used to run a funky Parisian wine-bar by the name of Nouvelle Mairie….but the call to produce wine proved too strong….. he recently sold up shop……. heading back to where he grew up, to tend some small vineyard holdings and make wine in Aveyron in South-West France.

There are a couple of funky varieties in the mix in the Mauvais Temps….firstly, there’s 50% Fer Servadou…not exactly a household name but it is grown throughout the appellations in the South-West of France, most notably Gaillac, Marcillac & Bearn…..it also finds its way into the wines of Madiran, Bergerac & Cabardes.

There is also 30% Negret de Banhars in the blend….a local grape very similar to Cöt but one which relishes the higher altitudes and decomposed granites in Nicolas’s vineyards around Conques in the village of Campouriez……it’s rare as rocking horse poop with Nicolas owning 1500 of the 2500 vines in the region.

The balance of the blend is made up of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and the wine is classified as Vin de pays de l’Aveyron….if you are still scratching your head as to where Aveyron is it’s near the Millau Viaduct…..I watched a program on Foxtel once called “Megastructures”…..quite possibly hungover….and it is one impressive piece of work…it even has its own website that you can visit when you are hungover here.

The vines are around 50 years of age and the fruit is harvested by hand and they are of course fermented utilising natural yeasts. The wine goes through a whole bunch semi-carbonic maceration in conical tanks for 20 days before heading to old oak barriques (ex-Phillipe Pacelet) for 12 months. Bottling without fining or filtration and bugger all sulphur.

Quite deeply coloured but with a slightly turbid, grapey purple/red hue.

On the nose, it’s definitely got the kavorka….plenty of rich wild cherry, blackcurrant and plummy fruit with an undercurrent of gamey, funky goodness. there’s hints of rhubarbs, granite, five spice, herbs, roast venison, licorice and wood smoke with wafts forest floor, veal jus and wood smoke.

Surprisingly upbeat on the palate with an energetic sour cherry fruit entry which segues into ripe plum and heady blackcurrants. Plenty of spice, earth and a stony, mineral flick with roast game, licorice, rhubarb and currants. It dances around nimbly with a sprightly acid line and finishes sapid and all sour cherry-like, with a curtain of fine, soft tannins….there’s a herbal, animal-musk vapor trail like waft at the very tail. A joy to drink and kind of like a Beaujolais, South-West, Languedoc mash-up….intriguing stuff.

Price: $39 – Closure: Cork- Alcohol: 12% – Sourc: Sample – Importer: Terroir Wines

Ohhhh and it so has the kavorka…the lure of the animal is like a drug…..animal nitrate.

Keef