PLOUF
[p’lu:f] French-English :
1. (v) splash 2. (v) the act of dropping an ice cube into a glass of wine 3. (n) plonk
Fine wines and speciality foods brought to Jersey by Kit & Laura for your enjoyment & delight.
New Wines!
Why We Like It
Interesting story coming soon…
What To Expect
It’s great!
Proper tasting note coming soon…
Sangiovese / 13.5% / Tuscany, Italy / 75cl
Why We Like It
We’ve been looking for a house wine a Plouf for a while, but that’s easier said than done when you’re in the business of trying to shine a light on wines with a story that aren’t you usual fare. But finally, we found Atance’s Bobal.
Toni Sarrión, the man behind Atance is known and ‘Mr Bobal’. It’s a nickname he’s picked up in the pursuit of bringing an otherwise unloved and obscure indigenous Spanish grape into the arena of fine Spanish wine.
Atance is his project to bring this wonderful grape to the masses, and boy, it’s worth a try.
What To Expect
Atance is a fruit-forward wine for joyous dinners with friends. Intense red cherry fruit and touches of violet combine with grippy tannin on the palate to make this a wonderful all rounder that works with mid-week suppers just as well as with a Sunday roast.
Bobal / 13% / Valencia, Spain / 75cl
Why We Like It
We love a Chardonnay at Plouf. When treated carefully, it’s a grape that is famed for letting the terroir show though. It’s therefore a perfect variety for those looking to explore some of the world’s lesser known wine regions, which is what we are all about.
Limoux is one of those regions.
Nestled high up in the hillsides of the Languedoc, Limoux is mainly known for it’s sparkling production that predates Champagne, but exciting young winemakers like Étienne Fort are embracing the possibilities the region’s soils and altitude present for still wines.
What To Expect
Elegant, clean, pure lemon and white fleshed stone fruit. Aged in large old oak for 10 months, Étienne lets the fruit from these 40 year old vines do the talking.
Chardonnay / 12.5% / Languedoc, France / 75cl
Upcoming Events
What we’re drinking this month…
Why We Like It
Champagne Lamiable saved our honeymoon... well, one day of it at least. Whilst we had a few visits in the diary, we left a couple of afternoons free to pop-in to some producers on-the-fly. Little did we know that the Champenoise don’t really do on-the-fly. Cue a few hours hopelessly driving around the Montagne-de-Reims trying to find someone who would pour us a glass of the good stuff.
This is where Lamiable came in. We pulled up to the traditionally charming farmhouse in Tours-sure-Marne, ‘Degustation s'il vous plaît’ we said in our finest GCSE French. To cut a long story short, in the space of half an hour we had tasted wonderful wine, met winemakers Ophelie and Arnaud and even wished Pierre, Ophelie’s father who planted the vines back in the 50s, a bon anniversarie! This is real Grower Champagne.
What To Expect
A fresh, immediately appealing floral and mineral Champagne. The stats? Pinot Noir dominant (60%), around 30 months on the lees, a low dosage of 4.5g/l and 40% reserve wine from a perpetual reserve. This wine is a fantastic example of why growers give you excellent value for money versus the big houses.
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir / 12.5% / Tours-sur-Marne, Champagne, France / 75cl
Why We Like It
Interesting story coming soon…
What To Expect
It’s great!
Proper tasting note coming soon…
Garnacha Blanca / 12.5% / Terra Alta, Spain / 75cl
Why We Like It
When Theo Coles first decided to make wine in the hills of North Canterbury, he thought if it all went wrong, ‘at least I’ll have some decent Pinot to drink’. This sentiment is not entirely dissimilar to the Plouf business plan, so we find ourselves quite drawn to Theo’s wines.
New Zealand has placed itself fimly on the world wine map in the last few decades. Starting with the world-beating Sauvignon Blanc, it’s now showing the world it can make some incredible wines from other varietals. See Pinot in Central Otago, Chardonnay up in Auckland and Syrah in Hawkes Bay. But there’s still experimentation going on in these southerly isles and The Hermit Ram is one of those still pushing the boundaries. Skin contact, amphora, flor… this is not for the faint hearted.
What To Expect
The Salty White is just that, salty. If you’re a fan of flor aged wines from Jerez, or skin fermented whites from northern Italy, you are going to love this. If you’re not familiar with either of those things but you like your whites structured and thought provoking, you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t give this golden wine with it’s full gamut of golden apple, tropical, and tangy fruit a try.
Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Riesling / 11.5% / North Canterbury, New Zealand / 75cl
Why We Like It
It was in an otherwise unremarkable Angers restaurant many years ago that we had one of a few pivotal moments in our wine journey. Laura’s dad ordered a couple of local bottles, ‘you’ll like this’ he said…. and that was it. Cabernet Franc in all its crunchy fruited, pencil lead, bell pepper glory with it’s wondourusly waxy, golden apple filled sister Chenin Blanc had us hooked.
Chateau Yvonne is one of the most well regarded producers in the famous appellation of Saumur Champigny, just down from where we sipped those two formative bottles. It is also one of the most historic, dating back to the 16th Century. Organic since it’s reawakening in 1997 and now fully biodynamic since 2012, everything here is done by hand and it’s that attention to detail that makes the wines so special.
What To Expect
It’s great!
Proper tasting note coming soon…
Cabernet Franc / 13.5% / Loire, France / 75cl