Pithon-Paille Anjou Mozaik - A History of Cabernet Franc in Loire Valley

Speaker 0 00:00:00 Welcome enthusiasts to another episode of wine and the bottle where we grab a bottle from the seller and discuss the people, places, factors in history that led to the creation of that wine. I'm your host, Sarah, uh, w set level three certified wine education enthusiast. And today we're traveling to the Lamar valley in France with a 2016 pizza pie, Ozu, mosaic. That's a lot of French right there. So let's dissect the name. The naming practice here is fairly standardized as it is throughout the old world. You get the name of the producer. <inaudible> the Appalachian where the grapes were grown Ozu and the name of the blend. Mosaic. It's relatively unusual for old worldwide to have the great varietal listed on the bottle. But in this case, the varietals is designated as Cabernet Franc. The apparent reason here being that there is another people in play, mosaic available, a mosey long, dry white wine made primarily from Shannon Blanca. Speaker 0 00:01:12 I also want to mention that the name of the blend is spelled M O Z a I K with an Ooh loud over the eye, which is from my understanding the Hungarian spelling for the word mosaic, not the French spelling, which is M O S a I whom lout Q U E. I haven't been able to figure out the connection yet. Is it a regional spelling from the lore valley? Is there a Hungarian influence if you have the answer, visit my website, www.birds-and-wine.com and leave a comment on my podcast page. So let's talk about the grape variety Cabernet. Franc is a staple grape in the Lamar valley. Although the best examples are from she know a nearby Appalachian two on June. These she known lines, often exhibit herbaceous, licorice, and floral violet characteristics. And we'll see if this mosaic shows any similarity. The Arzu appellation is most well-known as a hyphenate with neighboring summer and produces excellent Rosie wines from a range of red varieties, typically in medium, dry and medium sweet styles. Speaker 0 00:02:32 The Lamar valley has a classically cool climate. Although the vineyards in on Jew trend slightly warmer than other areas in the LaVar and flowering and fruit set happens much later in the spring than in other regions of the Northern hemisphere. This means there is a shorter growing season. So the grapes have characteristically high acidity for 40 years. Joe peek tall tended his coveted Shannon Blanc vineyards. Notice how I didn't say a Cabernet Franc more on that in a minute. In 2008, Joe pizza followed his dream of wanting to be more involved in the consumer experience and founded pizza and pie with his stepson, a winery and negocio business. A negocio is basically a wine distributor who buys grapes juice, or already vented wine from other growers and producers and sells it under their own label. Unlike in the United States where wine sold in this fashion are often considered jug wines. Think two buck Chuck or barefoot European negotiate wines are usually still quite good quality because those merchants are more motivated to source quality product from small-scale growers. Mosaic is one of those negotiated <inaudible>. So the Cabernet frog grapes were grown from independent growers and were carefully picked by Joe <inaudible>, who made the wine at his production facility. Speaker 0 00:04:05 So the sale of Joe P tone's entire operation to Yvonne <inaudible> in 2018 was monumental, or the honors you community jokey tones, the state grown dry shin and Blanca greatly contributed to on Jews growing reputation for dry wine, no longer was the Appalachian solely the source of sweet Rosa Mason not told wine spectator in an interview that his interest in pizza and Fay was driven from his fondness for the appellation. In addition to a financial standpoint, that quote Lamar valley is one of the last frontiers in France, where you can find great deals. Fair enough. I think since the sale pizza and pie is still produced and sold by Gurrola lo and co with the <inaudible> label, one of Joe P Tom's legacy brands and the flagship Grohl ALO is a French slang term for large breasts and proves that in all the seriousness of French wine, there is still a levity humor and passion. Speaker 0 00:05:18 The current vintage available for purchase direct from the producer is 2019, which means that the producer believes that this wine is ready to go. Within two years of harvest. The wine we are tasting today has three extra years in bottle, which if it truly was made to be an early drinker, this wine could be past its prime. It has a total of five years of age at this point, which for Cabernet Franc isn't terribly long. So I'm hoping for medium tannin and bright fruit, and maybe we'll have a hint of tertiary bottle aged complexity going on. So open the wine now and see if we can detect some of these influences in the final product. The color of the wine is medium Garnett. It's pale around the rim with a rather obvious orangy brown coloration at the edges. It's definitely showing its age. The intensity of the wine has dropped off too. Speaker 0 00:06:19 And I'm really having to focus to detect the aromas. There is sweet strawberry and raspberry preserve, and I do get the licorice and violet that we talked about earlier for me, violet smells a little bit like melted crayon, but I've been told it's definitely violent. It's coupled with earthy wet leaves, almost a burnt rubber smokiness and clove. There are definitely more tertiary notes here than I was expecting. So this wine was most likely made in a drink early style, not suitable for extended aging. The flavors are about the same on the palette and the wine has medium tannin as expected and medium body acidity and finish with a hint of burnt caramel that lingers medium all around, I guess, but it is an interesting wine, which apart from having a slightly stronger tannic structure actually reminds me of Oak aged, Oregon peanuts, or entry-level Burgundian reds. Speaker 0 00:07:23 It's different from the Cabernet Franc I've tasted from California, which is usually bolder fruitier and made to age much longer. I would say it's still drinkable, although it probably won't get better with age and would pair well with herbs de Provence, chicken and potatoes. This is not my favorite style of wine, but I do know a few people who would really love this since it's complex, but not pronounced at all in a Roma or flavor. I'm going to give this an 84 out of a hundred. Well, thank you so much for joining me on this trip to the Lamar valley. And thanks for sharing a glass of 2016 pizza and pie Ozu, mosaic. See you next week for the next deep dive into the cellar. I'm Sarah, and this is wine and the bottle.