This week I have been reminded that there is some truth in the saying 'less is more'. I have always been quite drawn to the concept since spending some of my working life as a data analyst in a team of the same. Many people hear the term data analyst and assume it means something similar to 'statistician', and it may do in some cases, but not mine. I was the type of data analyst who spent far longer than is healthy thinking about the nature of things and how best they should be represented in computer systems. My conceptual heroes were William of Ockham, famous for his razor which he used to dispense with unnecessary logical complexity, and Plato, who would have been pleased I am sure, as at the time I viewed my work as being a twentieth century realisation of his theory of forms. Now I think I was overpaid for being a pretentious waste of space and that the collective noun for data analysts is definitely 'a surplus'.
The reminder this week comes not from ontological debate but from reading that of the two varieties of the Manseng grape, Gros Manseng is considered the lesser,whilst Petit Manseng the greater. The little one is famous for its use in the production of sweet wines of some reknown, but the Gros version more often used in dry wines.
Week J (2014) Lapeyre, Jurancon Sec. 2012. No.2 Pound Street. £13.
Made with 100% Gros Manseng this is a highly flavoured dry white wine from South West France, about 300m up in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
It is the kind of wine that makes its presence felt as soon as the cork is pulled from the bottle and the aromas whizz up the nostrils. It is deeply coloured golden lemon yellow and aromas and colour both being strong are in balance.
I was initially quite taken aback by the intensity of the flavours, having over the last year encountered so many white wines that fall into the 'crisp green apples' category. This one is more knock-ya-head-off-with-a-grapefruit, backed up by some herbaceous notes and what I think might be minerality. I say think because I have read much in the recent wine press about whether 'minerality' is a meaningful wine descriptor or not, but most contributors appear to agree that a wine that has a suggestion of wet stones somewhere in its profile fits the bill. I think this does.
It is full bodied, but only 12% abv and has some oak character. Given the intensity of all of its characteristics it is no surprise that it has a long finish, with the citrus tones lasting longest.
The maker Jean-Bernard Larrieu is the third generation of the family to manage the vineyard bought by his grandfather in 1920. The business involved cattle and strawberries for many years and in 1985 the winery was built. Over the next few years the winery became the focus and the last of the strawberries were picked in 1988 and three years later the cattle business ended. They now have 17ha of vines, farmed organically, and all of the work from vineyard to bottle is undertaken by the family-based team and there is co-operation with other small producers in the locality, so there is much to be admired in their overall approach.
It is, perhaps, not a wine that is going to appeal to everyone and, in truth, I am unlikely to buy it again, but it is good to find a white wine that is so distinctive and different from any that I have tasted before.
The reminder this week comes not from ontological debate but from reading that of the two varieties of the Manseng grape, Gros Manseng is considered the lesser,whilst Petit Manseng the greater. The little one is famous for its use in the production of sweet wines of some reknown, but the Gros version more often used in dry wines.
Made with 100% Gros Manseng this is a highly flavoured dry white wine from South West France, about 300m up in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
It is the kind of wine that makes its presence felt as soon as the cork is pulled from the bottle and the aromas whizz up the nostrils. It is deeply coloured golden lemon yellow and aromas and colour both being strong are in balance.
I was initially quite taken aback by the intensity of the flavours, having over the last year encountered so many white wines that fall into the 'crisp green apples' category. This one is more knock-ya-head-off-with-a-grapefruit, backed up by some herbaceous notes and what I think might be minerality. I say think because I have read much in the recent wine press about whether 'minerality' is a meaningful wine descriptor or not, but most contributors appear to agree that a wine that has a suggestion of wet stones somewhere in its profile fits the bill. I think this does.
It is full bodied, but only 12% abv and has some oak character. Given the intensity of all of its characteristics it is no surprise that it has a long finish, with the citrus tones lasting longest.
The maker Jean-Bernard Larrieu is the third generation of the family to manage the vineyard bought by his grandfather in 1920. The business involved cattle and strawberries for many years and in 1985 the winery was built. Over the next few years the winery became the focus and the last of the strawberries were picked in 1988 and three years later the cattle business ended. They now have 17ha of vines, farmed organically, and all of the work from vineyard to bottle is undertaken by the family-based team and there is co-operation with other small producers in the locality, so there is much to be admired in their overall approach.
It is, perhaps, not a wine that is going to appeal to everyone and, in truth, I am unlikely to buy it again, but it is good to find a white wine that is so distinctive and different from any that I have tasted before.
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