French Connection Classics

We have now blended our French Connection Classics, so here’s how it went...

French Connection Saumur Blanc 2011

This wine is made using Chenin Blanc with our partners at Cave de Saumur. The 2011 vintage was never going to be easy, in fact the word most often heard this year is ‘compliqué’, but so far we’re happy. The new blend came out clean with tropical notes of pineapple with bright fresh acidity. We decided to add 10% of a riper ferment to add fruit weight and a touch of roundness. Eric the winemaker was very happy with this.

French Connection Saumur Champigny 2011
This has been a difficult ride for the grape growers this season. They had a very warm spring, then a wet summer, but saved by an Indian summer in autumn! This Saumur is made from Cabernet Franc, with a blend of early picked lighter fresh wine, and later harvested ripe jammy wine. Overall the blend works well. It’s soft full and supple on the palate with the classic Loire freshness, well-defined flavours, and the potential to broaden out and develop.

There will be a lot of attractive Loire wines for you to enjoy!

French Connection Roussillon Villages 2011
This region benefited from the unsettled wet weather of the summer, breaking the decade long drought. The harvest levels needed to be controlled through green harvest (removing excess bunches) but the results are fantastic. The blend we completed with winemaker Sandrine Le Cam, shows a powerful nose, expresses primarily black fruit and garrigue spice, with finishes of floral notes. The palate begins with bright fruits, with a beautiful fleshy finish. The wine reveals the sweet fruit and smooth tannins of Grenache, rich central Syrah fruit, spice and structure from Mourvedre and the mocha notes of the Caramany Carignan. Superb!

French Connection Languedoc  2011
Made by Vignerons St Felix de Lodez and blended with the Vignerons Catalans winemaker Sandrine Le Cam, this year the wine looks great with rich fruit, sweet pepper spice, lifted fruit and a touch of integrated oak. The blend is made up from the local favourites, Syrah, Grenache, Carginan and  Cinsault.

Enjoy!

Nick's Blending Trip

The last couple of months have seen me running around making the new vintage blends – good to work off those extra kilograms after Christmas! As we get glimpses of sunny spells and a touch of warmth of the forthcoming spring, the wines in vat are entering their final stage of finishing and blending. They then head towards either maturation (vat, tank or barrel) or are prepared for bottling. The last couple of months have seen me running around making the new vintage blends – good to work off those extra kilograms after Christmas! As we get glimpses of sunny spells and a touch of warmth of the forthcoming spring, the wines in vat are entering their final stage of finishing and blending. They then head towards either maturation (vat, tank or barrel) or are prepared for bottling.

I have just completed the work of blending the French Connection Sélection, Reserve and Grande Reserve wines with our French partners.

French Connection Sélection wines –  the white and rosé wine is an easier challenge than the red! The season produced wines that are fresh and vibrant in fruit, with easy balanced acidity – job done!

·         White – the wines are blended from Gers, Languedoc, and an area near Gaillac. Bright and fresh, the Colombard grapes give this a tropical grapefruit zing.

·         Rosé – the wines are blended from the Rhône, Languedoc and Gers. These wines show bright, cherry fruit, with a touch of sweeter strawberry.

·         Red – lots of ‘light’ wines from rain-affected grapes made this a challenge but we tried lots of different blends to get a fantastic result.  The successful blend was from the Vaucluse region and Languedoc.

French Connection Reserve Chardonnay – better  quality than the 2010 vintage, with richer fruit.  The blend was created using wines from the south-west, Languedoc and Gard. Peach and melon fruit, citrus freshness with good texture – a bright, fresh style.

French Connection Reserve Merlot –  the early grapes have vinified wines with freshness; the grapes picked later needed more selection due to the challenging wet weather. As always the Merlot was a challenge– our final blend was made up of wines from the south-west, Gaillac, Vaucluse, Gard and Languedoc regions – well travelled already! The result this year is a fresh Merlot with delicious, plump fruit on the palate.

French Connection Grande Reserve Sauvignon Blanc – this is a good vintage for Sauvignon Blanc with good quantity, which is lucky because the Brits love it! Same game plan with this vintage blend – fresh nettles and gooseberry with a  touch of tropical ripeness. We created it using wines from the south-west, Gers, Gaillac, north Gard and the Languedoc.

French Connection Grande Reserve Shiraz –  this was a cracker last year so the challenge is to continue with a blend as good or better! The 2011 vintage has produced wines that have more red and black fruits, with the peppery spice harder to find – but we got there... the blend this year is created from Languedoc, Drôme & Vaucluse with a splash from Gaillac (not normally in the blend but added for spice and freshness).

Now that the blends have been done – on the slab in the lab – the real challenge is to get the wines blended, finished and then bottled for you all to enjoy!

Nick Butler

French Connection Winemaker