Faugeres and Cotes de Provence Rose tasting with Frederic Brouca at WWWB

Ordered up a hundred Rosés, need a Benz like blasé, blasé
I'm just, whipping Maserati (Skurr, skurr, skurr, skurr)
Blasé, blasé

-TY Dolla $igns

We are still putting the finishing touches on the Wine Watch Wine Bar and although our app for the ordering system is not finished.  You can order your dinner on-line from our Wine Bar Selections section off the home page of our web site.  We only have six tables in the Wine Bar available on Friday and Saturday night so once you’ve placed your order for food, send an e-mail to andy@winewatch.com and let me know what time and day you are coming in.  I will save a place for you- we only have 5 tables left for this Friday nights 7pm seating!!

Everyone that comes in this Friday and Saturday night gets a free glass of one of these Cotes Du Provence rose wines!  We have big bottles of Cotes De Provence Rose “On Sale” just in time for your July 4th pool party!!

 On Friday, July 7th we have a special tasting with a producer from the South of France.  Frederic Brouca is from Ottawa and will be here this evening to showcase his exceptional wines from the Faugeres region.  Our special tastings on Friday and Saturday night are limited to 12 tasters and the wines will be paired to a five-course tasting menu the first two of our rose that we are offering will be served out of 3-liter format- just our way of saying PARTY time.

Dinner with Frédéric Brouca at Wine Watch Wine Bar
Friday, July 7th
7:30pm

2015 Domaine de La Croix Irresistible Rose AOC Côtes de Provence (3 Liter)
Price: $142.50    Sale Price: $71.25

A blend of Cabernet-sauvignon 10 %, Cinsault 25 %, Grenache 30 %, Mourvèdre 15 %, Syrah 5 % and Tibouren 15 %.  A round rosé wine, with a fresh and aromatic bouquet, a silky and fruity mouth with a supple, frank and clear finale.  Grapes were harvested by machine during the night and immediately selected, destalked, and put in a tank via gravity to preserve their freshness. Integrated agriculture.

2015 Chateau La Mascaronne "Quat 'saisons" Rose (3 Liter)
Price: $120.00    Sale Price: $60.00

2016 Chateau La Mascaronne "Quat 'saisons" Rose
Price: $20.25    Sale $17.82

A quintessential Provencal Rosé that’s made from 70% Cinsault, 16% Grenache and 14% Syrah, the 2015 Quat'Saisons offers up a light pink color to go with mouthwatering aromas and flavors of wild strawberries, rosé petal and salty minerality. Medium to light-bodied, juicy and gorgeously fresh and quaffable, with solid fruit and texture, it doesn’t get much better than this for a hot summer day and this beauty should be purchased by the case.

2014 Mascaronne Rouge Fazioli Cotes De Provence
Price: $22.50       Sale $19.80

A blend of 90% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre Powerful, complex nose with intense aromas of dark berries and cherry with generous palate of red and black fruits and a long spicy finish. -Winery Notes

2016 Domaine Frédéric Brouca Rose Faugeres
Price: $18.75       Sale $16.50

2016 Domaine Frédéric Brouca Cinsault
Price: $24.00       Sale $21.12

2015 Domaine Frédéric Brouca Faugeres             
Price: $20.25       Sale $17.82

A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre and this wine is biodynamic, uinfined and unfiltered with low sulphur, very naturally made.  This wine has a big bouquet with lots of jammy fruit, pretty floral notes and sweet balsamic highlights.  Dense and rich on the tongue with fine tannins big but still has nice freshness and a balanced finish laced with an array of flowers, spice and even more complex on the second day.  Finish 45+    Excellent +         

2013 Domaine Frédéric Brouca Clos Sauveplane Faugeres           
Price: $33.00       Sale $29.04

This is a plateau on the east side of the appellation and the soils are schist full of iron which is very evident in the bouquet of the wine lots of minerality aka dirt here.  This wine has a more intense bouquet with an array of dried flowers, lavender and more, this is the first release of this single vineyard wine.  Wow, a big and chewy wine with lots of everything, dark plum and berry fruit with black licorice, lavender and an array of exotic spices and dark earthy notes.  Finish 50+  Most Excellent             

Menu

Strawberry Fields Salad with Cotes De Provence Rose vinaigrette served with Macadamia Nut crested Goat Cheese Balls

Crispy Seared Dusk Breast with Cherry pie glaze and coco nib buttermilk mash

Dark Chocolate Blackberry Creme Brulee

This is a seated event and there is only space for 12 tasters, the fee for this tasting and dinner is $65 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463.

A bit about Frédéric Brouca

Frédéric Brouca, an Ottawa resident who makes wine from his own vineyard in southern France, was headed for a career in business. Born in France, he studied in Lille at one of the country’s top business schools. But, as he tells the story, after graduating and being offered a banking job, he got into a car with his father and told him he was going to turn the job down as he just didn’t see himself working in a bank.

Instead, he turned to wine. He had a passion for wine and the idea of being a winemaker. Once he’d decided against banking, he gave that passion full rein.

Although he did not buy his vineyard until four years ago, and the first vintage of his wine was 2013, Brouca, 39, says: “I have been ‘concepting’ this winery for 15 years.”

This wasn’t a matter of day-dreaming on a couch. It meant getting up to speed theoretically and getting some wine-business experience. He obtained his sommelier certificate at Algonquin College, and represented Burgundy wineries in America and Asia.

He visited growers and winemakers around the world, in France, of course, but also in California, Oregon, New Zealand, Spain and even India.

Of course, he also visited wineries in Canada – and even worked for a year at Creekside winery in Niagara — because of his Canadian connection. That’s his wife, Elaine Brouca. She grew up in Kanata and she and Frédéric met when she was an exchange student living in Lille.

Since then, she has worked for Global Affairs Canada, and they lived where she has been posted, in Mumbai, where Elaine was vice-consul and trade commissioner at the Canadian Consulate General and more recently in Singapore where she was first secretary and trade commissioner at the High Commission of Canada.

The Broucas now live in Ottawa with their children, although Frédéric often travels to France to look after the vines and make their wine.

Unlike many winemakers, Brouca is largely self-taught, and took no formal courses on viticulture or making wine. His concept of growing grapes and making wine coincided with an approach adopted by many winemakers — reducing human intervention in the processes. That included cultivating vines without chemicals and making wine without using any of the many techniques widely employed to create wines in particular styles.

Brouca did a lot of research on farming before the Second World War, when the uses of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides was not as widespread as they are now. His vines are farmed organically and the grapes are all hand-harvested.

He picks his grapes two or three weeks earlier than most vine-growers in the region, so as to avoid overripe flavours in the wine and to keep the alcohol level down. If he waited for the grapes to be fully mature, he says, “we will have 15 or 17 per cent alcohol! It’s better to pick when the grapes give you 13 or 13.5 per cent, when you want to eat the grapes because they’re juicy and ripe.”

The French are looking for fresh wines like his, he says, and I agree that this style – juicy, fresh, clean, and relatively low in alcohol – is becoming more popular.

For winemaking, Brouca says, “we work only with what Mother Nature gives us, grapes and native yeasts to produce non-manipulated wines. We bottle our wines unfined and unfiltered.”

The wine is matured in stainless steel or in old, large barrels that do not contribute the oaky aromas and flavours in many oak-aged wines.

He bought his 25-hectare vineyard in 2012. “Fortunately, land in Languedoc is still relatively affordable compared to other wine-growing regions,” says Elaine Brouca. “Truthfully, you are looking at about a half-million euro investment, with a 200,000 euro down payment. With our savings, some family support and frugal spending, we were able to make it happen!”

The vineyard is in the Faugères appellation in Languedoc, not far from the town of Béziers, and the vineyard has been certified organic since 1997. The main grape varieties are cinsaut, grenanche, carignan, syrah and mourvèdre.

Broucas’ winery is still very small. He produced 2,500 cases of wine in 2013 and 4,000 in 2015.  Even so, he has developed a robust export market. He sells 30 per cent of his wine in France, and 70 per cent in the United States (in 17 states), Canada and Hong Kong.