Thursday, April 12, 2012

Abouriou


            Abouriou is a traditional, and reportedly disappearing, grape of the Marmandais, a region southeast of Bordeaux.
            This wine’s producer, Stephanie Roussel, is a practitioner of biodynamic agriculture, a style of organic farming that emphasizes the interrelationship of plants, animals and the soil and avoids chemical inputs to the greatest degree possible. Chateau Lassolle wines are often praised for their purity and genuine varietal character, and this bottling was produced without fining, filtering or added sulfur.
            It has a rustic, unpretentious character, but there’s plenty here to engage the palate. “Le rouge qui tache” is a phrase used to describe simple, strongly flavored reds, and one reviewer says this wine tastes like “it was grown in a rugby field.” Another taster says it combines the forward, fruity personality of Gamay with the leathery, black-olive accents of Mourvedre (Monastrell).
            Food pairing: It’s a wine to drink with roasted red meat or, as has been suggested, duck breast.

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