Barge Tasting in Paris(3)

Nicolas Joly (right) tasting Paul Barre (left) winesI went then to Domaine de Traginer after saying hello to Pierre Breton who presented his Bourgueil and Chinon wines.
Domaine du Traginer is located in Banyuls and the vintner's name is Jean-François Deu, a guy who is about 40 and speaks with the southern accent of this mountainous region near the Pyrennean range. 8 hectares (Banyuls, Collioure) on steep slopes, with tiny low-wals encircled surfaces. Uses a mule for the most arduous vineyard plots. Traginer means btw mule rider in the region.
__Traginer Collioure Blanc 2006. White. Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Malvoisie, vinified in 1/2 muids (600-liter casks). 14 months elevage. Nice ampleness in the mouth.
__Traginer Collioure Blanc 2005.No Malvoisie here. Very different indeed. Oxydative notes. Some residual sugar made it into the bottle and the wine continued to evolve.
__Traginer Collioure 2006 (red).Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre. Tannic wine.
__Traginer Collioure 2005 "Cuvée d'Octobre". red. Elevage in 4/5-year old casks.Bottled not long ago. Nice intensity in the mouth. This wine needs to wait more before being fully enjoyed. 17 Euro.
__Traginer Collioure "al Ribéral" 2006.Grenache, Carignan, Syrah (50%), Mourvèdre.Partly in stainless-steel vats, partly in casks. Nice, intense nose. Substance in the mouth. No SO2 here. This estate doesn't use any external yeasts, enzymes or any usual additive. 16 Euro.
__Traginer Collioure Capatas 2004. Very steep vineyard plot facing the Mediterranean. That's where the mule is useful.Syrah (70%), Grenache, Carignan. Yields as low as 17ho/ha.Lots of concentration. Must be great with a meat dish. This is of course a long-keep wine only at the beginning of its life.
__Traginer Collioure Capatas 2002. Magnum. Nose : mushrooms, underwood. Very nice and long mouth, spicy notes. 60 Euro for the magnum. Marcel Richaud (left), Kevin Blackwell at his leftThen I went to Marcel Richaud's stand. He was there pouring his wines. Marcel Richaud is an outstanding vintner in the Rhone, who vinifies on a non-interventionist way his organicly-farmed grapes. His wines and work are well-described in this IHT article and as the article states, if you find them in many wine bars, there's no mystery to it. Speaking of wine bars, Kevin Blackwell, the American owner of Autour d'Un Verre was there too on the barge. He told me about his ceiling which suffered major damages caused by water leaks originated from the appartment upstairs, forcing him to close the bar temporarily. He hopes to re-open in mid-january 2009.
Marcel Richaud speaks about the weather and the harvest this year, he says that in 2008 they were obliged to discard lots of grapes because of different reasons like mildew or unripe grapes because of flowering problems.
__Marcel Richaud, Terre de Galets 2007 (red). Grenache mostly, plus 10% Syrah.Red, ripe fruits aromas. Beatiful mouth, a bit too warm because of the temperature of the bottle. 7 Euro.
__Marcel Richaud, Cairanne 2007. Liquorice, soft spices as we say in France (épices douces). Quite well balanced for its 15°alc.
__Marcel Richaud, L'Ebrescade 2006. Here is a long keep wine (if his other wines were not already long-keeps). Small astringency in the mouth but still a nice balance. He says best for this bottle would be to drink it beginning 2010 only. 17 Euro. L'Ebrescade is Marcel Richaud's most advanced cuvée, and he regularly has problems to get the INAO agreement, making him one of the most energetic resistant to the diktat of the agreement-commissions who expell the natural wines from an Appellation because they don't taste like the standardized wines of the region. By the way, if you're in Paris, go to Le Verre Volé wine shop (rue Oberkampf or rue de Lancry, they have two shops), they happen to have a Marcel-Richaud red wine which was barred from the Appellation by this Commission and is sold as Table Wine (and priced 4,7 Euro if I remember). I think it might be what was formerly L'Ebrescade (not sure though).
I went then to Pierre breton's stand.
__Domaine Breton, Bourgueil Dilettante 2007. At Domaine Breton, the Dilletante cuvée is vinified by Catherine Breton, and depending of the year, she may make a red, a white or a natural sparklint (Pet-Nat). She is not on the barge today. Pierre says that it is made through carbonic maceration with whole clusters and this unfiltered wine just got a very tiny SO2 addition at bottling. A light-colored Cabernet Franc. Too bad Catherine is not there today, I like that wine, very enjoyable mouth.
__Domaine Breton, Bourgueil Nuit d'Ivresse 2007. Red. Zero SO2 (during the vinification or at bottling), no additives of course.Elevage in 2-year-old casks. The wine gets its malo-ferm completed.Beautiful fruit.
__Domaine Breton Bourgueil les Perrières 2006. Bottled two weeks ago (very long elevage). Les Perrières is for me THE Breton Bourgueil to buy and preciously keep a few years to best enjoy its potential, tasting it now is a curiosity or a sin because it is a bit early. 70-year-old Cabernet-Franc vineyards. Fermented in open-top wooden vats (Grenier type). 20 hectoliter/hectare yields. Elevage in 1/2 muids (550-liter casks).