Avalanche de Printemps 2015 Fleurie AOC

Rocky red. Black brittle. Roses. Ashy cherries. Plush satin fruit sheets. Black pepper tongue. Fatty red juice. Pomegranate. Bountiful vineyard life.

100% Gamay from the pink granite soils of Fleurie. This is the very first vintage from Marc Delienne on this newly acquired, yet incredibly old vines.

Whole cluster fermentation creates a spontaneous carbonic situation. Inside and out, in balance. Ding and dong. Aged in a dog's breakfast of concrete tanks and old barrels of various sizes. Nothing fucked with in the process. No racking, fining or filtration. Sulphur is described as low. Organic practices in the vineyard, with proper certification expected for the 2017 vintage.

Poivre et Sel 2016 VdF

Dark dank beauty, drinks fresh, hints of manure. A lovely hard zing from the peppery Pineau d'Aunis, backed up and balanced lovely with pips of fruitiness. Textural, alive. Chatty really. A dinner guest on its own.

90% Pineau d'Aunis, 10% Gamay, from a mixed vineyard in the flinty soils of the Loire. Olivier Lemasson makes a continual stream of beautiful glouglou Natural wines. Organic, no sulphur, or manipulation. Tastes of natural yeasts, unfiltered. 

These wines are fresh, and don't last. Neither on the shelf, or once the bottle is opened. Of course I mean because it will get soif'd right quick. If you see any of these wines, grab them, there is a good chance they won't be around again until the next vintage. Typically only 500 cases are produced a year.

Le Coste Rosso di Gaetano 2015 VdT

Dark leather, milk and garnet cherries. Deep black fruit. Roars of rocks, extended roots. Cough syrup, in blister packs. Medicinal charm. Inky flavors, olives, spice, but all well integrated into pure wonderful juice.

Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Grenache are some of the grapes listed on some of the websites. One good Google translate described it as "Prevalence of Sangiovese, other varieties" Sure. The Sangiovese goes by the local Lazio name of Greghetto. Younger vines in Iron and mineral rich soil. The other grapes, who can tell. The blend seems to vary by year, 2014 had 40% Merlot. 

“The picnic wine of Le Coste: it is easy, fruity, lively, little tannic, with just that brutal side that makes you feel in the country.”

— vin-naturel.be

Clémentine Bouvéron and Gian Marco Antonuzi are members of SAINS (Sans Aucun Intrant Ni Sulfite) and practice natural agriculture, without certification, biodynamic, absolutely clean, without any cellar technology or additives. 

Brutal Domaine la Boheme VdF

Black. Gack. Sweet licorice. Berry juice. Powdered granite. What's the French version of licorella? I can imagine what these soils look like. Roiling passion. Bright blasting koolaid Berries. Lovely citric acid. Candy wand. Lick em stix. Swirl and wow. Dark. Bells. I want a case of this.

The Brutal Wine Company is a crazy wonderful concept. Based around a natural wine bar in Barcelona, named apropos, Bar Brutal. These are one-off cuvees from natural winemakers. Some bottles are for the bar, and accompanying wine store Can Cisa in el Born, but the rest are sold by the winemakers as a prestige project.

This is from Domaine la Boheme, winemaker Patrick Bouju has a few hectares on the gentle slopes of Auvergne, at the headlands of the Loire River, just west of Beaujolais, where he focuses on old vine Gamay d’Auvergne. Some broken mixed parcels with the vines too close together for a horse to plow. Had to get a skinnier horse.

50% Gamay d’Auvergne, and 50% Syrah. Patrick's vineyard and cellar practices are minimal, using observations not tricks. Zero sulphur for almost 10 years. Pure wine.

Rouge G, Le Sot de L'ange 2015 VdF

Deep red. Long green grasses. Herbal tea, chamomile, citrus zest, Soft plush olives. Pillows. Carbonic pillows with juicy red tassels. Lively berries. vin de soif for days. Err it won't last an hour.

Grolleau and Gamay from the Loire. Last time I researched there was some trick with whole bunches of one under the other, creating an anaerobic environment. New package. New name. Dunno.

Laughably heavy clear bottle. Here's some glou, won't age, don't leave it out, also note the impressive heft. This one had a cork, some have screw caps. What's that all about @selectionmassale? 
Quentin Bourse makes these knockout, organic and sulphur free Loire wines. Minimal manipulation. Drink them if you see them.

Pinot de Soif 2016 - VdF

Ripe red. Blackberry funk. Lots of valley vitamins. Bright body. Tightening sourness. Dripping black cherry pie ash cans. Burnt newspapers. Chicory, roasted radicchio salad. Drink with bikes. 

100% Pinot Noir, grown in flint and clay soils; 30-year-old vines. Winemaker Olivier Lemasson has been running a small négoce since 2002 named Les Vins Contés, sourcing from organically farmed vineyards around the Loire Valley.  

“Lemasson gave up fighting the AOC boards over “typicity” and has intentionally declassified all his wines. ”

Like most of his wines, this is unfiltered, and without added sulphur, made in the caviste style. Small cellar, used wooden fermentation tanks.

This wine tastes of carbonic maceration which fits with the rest of his reds varietals, Gamay, Cot, Grolleau, Pineau D'Aunis. But beyond that, I found very little detail on this cuvee. I'll probably never see you again. (at least until the next time) Thanks Moz. 

Jean Foillard Cote du Py 2015 Morgon AOC

Dark ruby, nose of rocks. Cast iron coffee cups. Those metal fish you cook rice with in your cheap aluminum pots. Structured ripe red fruit. Lively acids on your tongue. Rippingly fresh. Chelates. Deep murky pools of tailings. Washed up glaciers. Not eclaires. 

Prime real estate, granite and schist soils make up the alluvial fan sitting above the town of Morgan. Combined with rigorous vigneron practices create driven, focused wines. Kermit Lynch included Jean Foillard in his "gang of four" 

Gamay all the way. Vineyards are all farmed organic. Vigorous hand selection, passing less than perfect bunches. Whole cluster fermentation for three of four weeks, then six to nine months in used oak barrels. Bottled unfiltered without added SO2.