Liner notes and wine details for Tasting Notes Vol. 3: “Mountain + Sea”, an in-person event held at Hi-Note, a radio listening bar in New York’s East Village, on Wednesday, November 15th 2023.
Vo1. 3: ‘Mountain + Sea’
What happens when you cross a border? Is there such a thing as ‘French wine’? Or ‘Spanish wine’?
What would happen if we looked at grapes, and landscapes, and history, and common language, instead of nation-states?
What differences would we find in four wines, here, between the mountains and the sea?
What would they hold in common?
What We Drank
JEAN-LOUIS TRIBOULEY maccabeu “Marceau” LATOUR DE FRANCE
who made it? Jean-Louis Tribouley, who bought vines in Latour-de-France and Calce in the Roussillon’s Agly river valley, after a short stage with biodynamic icon Gérard Gauby in 2001.
out of what? Macabeu, which came to the Roussillon across the Pyrenées, from its birthplace in Penedès.
from where? Two different plots, one on northeast facing schist, the other on gneiss. “All of the grapes are sorted … We only put grapes that could easily be eaten into the cuvées.”
TONI CARBÓ macabeu “l’Ermot” PENEDÈS
who made it? Toni Carbó of La Salada. He is also one-half of Mas Candí, along with Ramón Jané and Anna Sera; he started making solo wines in 2012. (Ramón and Anna also have their own projects.)
out of what? Maccabeu, which was probably born in Penedès, and whose parents may be two ancient southern Spanish obscurities: the nearly-extinct Andalucían variety hebén, and the Mediterranean brustiano faux.
from where? Two different old-vine parcels, one a single hectare planted in 1946 on clay-limestone and unplowed with year-round green cover since 2008, the other planted on sandy loam near Toni’s house in 1965. (Normally, this bottle is a single-plot wine, but drought over the last two years has crushed yields.) Zero sulfur addition.
FOULARDS ROUGE carignan “Vilains” MONTESQUIEU-DES-ABÈRES
who made it? Jean-François Nicq, who made wine in the southern Rhône for 12 years before moving to the southern corner of the Roussillon in 2001. His mule’s name is Uma.
out of what? Carignan, an old variety born in Aragon and spread via Catalán merchants across the Mediterranean in the 1200s, everywhere from Sardegna and the Roussillon to Morocco and Malta.
from where? A single plot of carignan planted in the ’40s on the sandy granite hillside of Montesquieu-des-Abères, less than 10km from the Mediterranean, in the foothills of the Pyrénees. Bottled by hand after blending the free run and press juice, with zero added sulfur.
FRISACH carinyena “l’Anit” CORBERA D’EBRE
who made it? Francesc Ferré, the son of a local farming family who for two hundred years has grown grapes and olives around Corbera. In 2009, a large buyer cancelled a purchase at the last moment, and Francesc and his brother decided to try making their own wine instead. (Frisach was the surname of their great grandfather, and is the name of the family home.)
out of what? Carignan / carinyena: high acid, high tannin, high yielding, resistant to drought, it can hold on to freshness in hot places — and more and more places in the world of wine are hot, these days. But it was also put to work, used for bulk wine and industrial farming, for exactly the resiliency that can make it so compelling.
from where? A single plot of bush vines planted in the first half of the 20th century, the oldest vines on the estate. A new wine for them, it’s bottled with zero added sulfur after whole-cluster infusion and aging.
Playlist & Liner Notes
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[Liner notes coming soon!]
Children's Atlas of Wine 