Interesting natural wine produced in Barossa Valley by a somm/winemaker from Belgium: @Koen Janssens.
The wine is a 2018 vintage, Grenache variety sourced from a 100-year-old vineyard in Barossa..
In terms of natural wines, Koen has said that all the work is done in the vineyard, while in the winery, not much, apart from preserving the quality of the grapes and fine-tuning the product. No Tartaric Acid, no Citric Acids, no Protein, no Enzymes, no Woodchips added, only a bit of carbonic sulfur to stabilise the wine and a bit of ageing in 10-year-old barrels to smooth down the tannins.
I did not have a chance to ask, but I am supposed yeast has been inoculated but not malolactic fermentation.
Wine made for a sake of sustainability as said, “ I am not an Hippie, I drive a SUV, but I have a 5 years old son…” says Koen, “…and, if I can minimalize my impact on the world, eliminating any systemic and pollutant applied to my work, letting nature control more often, why do not do it!”
Natural wines have no legislation in Australia yet, and have started to be produced up to 10 years ago, so really a new thing in the country, which needs to be understood and communicated properly to the final customer in order to avoid misunderstandings. Why!?
As per my experience, natural wines are a niche of the market, interesting for people who have experienced other styles of wines and open to ‘explore’; but a bit daunting for those who, instead, are used to standardised wines and use wines as a form of alcohol mediator.
But let’s understand more what you will get in your tasting experience and what the main differences are from “not-natural” wines.
Let’s start with the cork… yes, this wine is under cork, no screw cap. Why? “Because the best wines in the world are under cork!” says Koen. “Maybe…!” I say. “…Quality is subjective!” was what my marketing teacher usually said. But what I find really attractive when I have a cork, apart from the cork itself, is the small bit of anticipation the cork gives to you in the opening process.
Almost like having a trailer of the wine, which gives you so much information about the product in the bottle; therefore, corks are my favourite closing system, because they make the game of opening a bottle of wine more intriguing, creating anticipation.
So, what does Sargent J, Grenache 2018 say to me? Let’s start the tasting
Cork: Ink, red dry flowers, chocolate, balsamic vinegar, no reduction, no defects. Which makes me kind of happy… not for the lack of defects but for the lively and vibrant notes I can smell.
Look:
The colour… pouring it shows a normal consistency, not too dense, not too liquid. Obviously, this is a non-filtered wine, so, as I am not, you shouldn’t expect a clear, transparent colour in the glass. Opaque is correct, which, if I would have to evaluate the wine as per normal standards, is a defect. However, I can still evaluate it by the vivacity of the nail colour. Is it a lively, bright colour or a tired, opaque one??? J
Lively, brilliant ruby red in the glass, no purple, no granate, a wine in its youth, the body in the arches (and the label on the bottle) calls to me a 13% of alcohol, surprisingly high for a natural wine, but let’s remember it is a wine from Barossa, the climate plays here.
Nose: Here we are at the fun part.
Chocolate, red flowers, cherry, sour cherry, red currants and wild strawberries, a bit of alcohol with a hint of minerality which resembles anchovies to me. The wine keeps evolving in the glass for a bit and reaches its balance in a range of 20 minutes. Howerver I had the opportunity to re-taste the wine one day after and it was still stable with no signs of oxidation.
A complex, fin nose with adequate length and representative of its look.
The final part:
Taste: This is where this wine shows all its differences in regard to “not-natural” wines.
At the palate, the wine tends to move into the hard part of the spectrum with acidity, tannins and subtle minerality, in this order. Acidity reminds me a bit of a fresh currant juice, while tannins are still young but soft enough to be enjoyable, staying long on the palate. Alcohol, polyalcohol’s and sweetness are less preponderant, where the big missing is the polyalcohols coming from the ageing of the wine.
A medium-full body wine, well-balanced and characteristic of its age and making, which has its main focus on the fruit and is ready to be drunk now.
Ageing time? It might increase its quality by smoothing down harnesses in time, but really, what is the point of making it age? A wine “painted” young, to be consumed at this stage and smells of the vineyard, not the cellar door.
Conclusion?
Intense wine with good finesse and harmony between its colour, smell and palate.
A wine to eat more than drink with the expectation to surprise for a couple of minutes and then accompany you for the rest of the bottle without presumption or need to be the centre of the discussion. A middle meal wine which has its strength in its digestibility, because this is the best part, the great thing of this wine and probably the most important thing, you are looking at the end, in natural wines, is something that doesn’t make you sick if you drink bit too much of it, and doesn’t leave you with headaches for the day
A pleasurable journey, thank you to Koen Janssen.
End 🙂