Je Négrette Rien - part 3 - a wine post

Chateau St Louis, Fronton, 2007

The 12 days of Christmas in the Countrycreamtea household are usually excellent ones, normatively punctuated by attending a hunt or two, partaking of a pint or three of real ale after a walk in crisp winter sunshine, you get the picture.  This year, I regret to say, the whole scenario's been somewhat spoilt.  Firstly, the awful weather, secondly, the preposterous stories about Thatcher's cabinet papers (The Independent, for example, was reduced to devoting a whole story to how many hairdo's she had in one year), thirdly, lastly and by no means leastly, the latest Burgundy En Primeur prices for the 2012 vintage (I'm out this year).

The only thing that can possibly rectify such a frightful situation is a decent bottle of something a little out of the ordinary.  Both readers of this blog will be aware that we have something of a foible chez nous for the glories of the Négrette grape (written about here and here).

There it is - Chateau Saint Louis, Fronton, 2007.  Got this bad boy from France (I think from that nice wine shop in Le Touquet) for 6 euros.

And here's the crucial info from the back.

There we go. 70% Negrette, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 5 each of Gamay and Syrah.  Nice.  Not so nice is the tedious sermon about no chemicals. Yawn.

Now - knowing when to open a Negrette wine is tricky.  When drunk young it's tempting to think  - this could go for years, but while it does benefit from shortish to medium term cellaring, leaving it too late can screw it up too.  I reckon I cracked this one just in time.  You can just tell from the picture that it's gone a nice rubyish colour.  

And the nose?  Well rather than describe it - I'll help you recreate it.

Into a liquidizer put, 1 prune that's been soaking in cheaph(ish) armagnac for 3 years, half a fresh apricot, 3 victoria plum skins (ideally not quite ripe), a 1 inch pencil (nothing harder than a 3B ideally a pencil that's been on the garage floor for at least six months), 1/4 teaspoon rolling tobacco, half a peppercorn, and 3 mils petrol lighter fluid.  Wiz it for 30-40 seconds.  Remove lid and leave for 8 minutes. Now finely chop a sweet pea flower and a honeysuckle bud, fold into the mixture,  and take a niff.   That's it.  Glorious.  Nothing on earth smells like a glass of Fronton wine. And I mean nothing.  And you can't buy this nectar for love nor money in Blighty.

And in the mouth?  The fruit has faded a little, but still there; like a nice home made jam that's been left for a few too many months.  Good tanins, longish finish, tastes a bit boozier than its 12.5 %.

So if you're in the trade - get yourself acquainted with  http://www.chateausaintlouis.fr get down there, and ping me a tweet when you get back.  It's not difficult.  I'd happily part with £15 for this.

A serving suggestion.

Gesiers, croutons (cooked in Gesiers fat obviously), lardons etc.,  Feel those arteries tightening......