Domaine de l'Arjolle in Pouzolles, North of Béziers, is one of the most well known and respected vineyards in the neighborhood. My wife and I stopped by at New Year's Eve and picked up a few bottles of reds, whites, rosés, and a Vin de Liqeur from their extensive and interesting line of wines. We also got a bubbly for the evening. We were given a generous and informative tasting of many of their wines by Louis-Marie Teisserenc, who talked enthusiastically about their work with the terroir, grapes, vinification, barrel ageing and more. We had a really nice chat and went back home feeling enriched and happy.

One of the reds we brought back home was the Zinfandel 2008. Zinfandel is of course mostly associated with California, but it's the same grape that's called Primitivo in the South of Italy. In California the grape is 3rd in quantity after Chardonnay and Cabernet, but most of it is turned into a semi-sweet rosé for the domestic market. Some red Zins hit the European market, for instance some good, fruity stuff from the big producer Ravenswood. But beware of over-oaked crap too.

The Zinfandel from l'Arjolle turned out to be in neither an American nor Italian style, but a distinctly French version. It performs a lively but elegant dance in the nose and mouth, with a warm, complex harmony of all kinds of dark berries, some prune and a dash of violet and rosé pepper.  All this is wrapped in a  tasty aroma of leather.
With the intense aromas and high acidity, and dusty but not pronounced tannins, this is a wine to be enjoyed with many Mediterannean style meals, sausages, hard cheeses... A delicious and very useful wine with lots of character!

Which is most important:  knowledge and precision or inspiration and free thinking?

Well, to make a very good violin or a very good  wine, it's absolutely necessary with lots of knowledge and lots of precision. With only inspiration you'll not produce anything above miserable. But to reach a level beyond "very good", once you have the necessary knowledge, precision and experience, that's where inspiration and new ideas come in handy. Luckily, there have been luthiers and winemakers in the past who have expanded the frontiers, creating instruments with new possibilities for musical expression, or new styles of wine.

                                 Kloo violin nr.50, based on late examples of the work of  Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesú.

Today, luthiers and winemakers have access to a vast amount of information about different styles of violins/wines, and the methods of production used today, as well as historically. So we have more spices in the spice rack than previous generations. We only have master the way of combining them to get those really delicious textures of sound or taste that can make people experience moments of bliss.

During some periods I've made great efforts to solve different problems, like getting a better sound and response when playing in high positions. I've studied the way the violin vibrates in different frequency ranges, and tried to control these vibrations by controlling the flexibility of different areas of the violin top and back. I've thought about the influence of the bassbar, varnish and so on. Then, suddenly there's a breakthrough without even the feeling of effort. I think that's when intuition has done it's job, combining all the information and experience at hand in a smarter way than logical thinking was able to do. We all know the experience of desperately trying to remember a name, and then when we forget about it and relax, it suddenly appears in our consciousness.

So, the answer is:  both knowledge and intuition is needed to reach the really high levels of artisanry, and to expand the frontiers. In winemaking, violinmaking, architecture...you name it. Of course, we all knew that, didn't we?

Domaine Saint Ferréol is a vineyard located close to Nizas, south of Pézenas. It's run by Jorje and Ania Maslakiewicz, a charming English couple with Polish ancestry. I met them yesterday and tasted their excellent wines at the Christmas market at the Château de Cassan.

It was obvious from the first sniff that these wines, a viognier and a syrah/grenache had seen some really well managed oak ageing. The viognier was really something special, and I'll get back to that wine another day. I brought home a few bottles of course, and tonight I opened the syrah/grenache.

The wine has a brilliant ruby colour. The nose reveals an earthy, complex aroma of prunes, cedar, vanilla, black pepper and black currant. On the palate there's quite a bit of acidity and tannins, with prunes, black currant, cedar and black pepper dominating, and with hints of vanilla and really dark chocolate, all in an autumn forest setting. The texture is elegant and mouth watering, which makes the wine a good companion to a fine dinner.
I had a piece of Cantal Entre Deux with the wine, which was a perfect match. Deer or elk with a mushroom sauce would probably be fantastic.
This is not a typical Languedoc wine, but more reminiscent of a fine Bordeaux. It  would be difficult to find a wine in this style, with this quality for less than twice the price.
I encourage you to visit the St. Ferréol website. You might be tempted to book a week or two in their beautiful vacation villas, right here in wine paradise.
Domaine St.Ferréol

Sounds can be very difficult to evaluate, and even more difficult to memorize. When changing strings, making soundpost adjustments and so on, it's easy to fool oneself that there is a big improvement in sound, though it might just be the pleasing effect of change - that is, any change. I sometimes use small lumps of modelling clay to find out if I want to add or remove weight from the tailpiece. If I'm not alert, I can find that the sound improves when I add a piece of clay - when I remove it the sound becomes even better! Now, if that was an accurate observation I could make a mediocre violin sound like a million dollar one by just adding and removing the piece of clay a hundred times or so. Unfortunately that won't happen.

If you're a violinist, and you're not cautious, you might fall prey to the dreaded soundpost disease, the symptom being that you want to have the soundpost adjusted several times each week. You might even buy a soundpost setter and start adjusting the soundpost yourself. That's when it becomes really dangerous, both for your own mental health and for the instrument. A couple of hundred soundpost moves later, the inside of the violin top will probably be severely worn, and a soundpost patch might be needed. That's a really expensive repair, and can only be performed by a trained luthier. In the process you'll probably find yourself less and less content with the sound of the violin, and that was certainly not the purpose from the start.

On the other hand, a healthy interest in the sound and performance of your instrument, and a good relationship with a luthier who is proficient in the art of violin adjustments, can gradually make your instrument perfectly adapted to support you in shaping the sound you want to deliver. It's often the adjustments that improve the response and playability, rather than the sound of the instrument, that produce the most dramatic improvements. After all, it's the musician who makes music through the violin, and not the other way around.

The international violin making competition, Concours Etienne Vatelot, is taking place in Paris right now. The members of the jury have done their job, evaluating violins, violas, celli and basses from 16 European and Asian countries. Now 103 instruments and a number of bows are on exhibition in these beautiful rooms in one of the buildings of the Mairie of the 9th arrondissement in central Paris. Today there will be a concert featuring the awarded instruments.

Despite having only a primitive temporary workshop yet, after moving to France, I managed to finish a viola just in time for the competition. I'm quite happy that it was ranked as nr.19, under the circumstances.

The over all quality level of the instruments was, in my opinion, the best that I've seen so far in a violin making competition. I also like the trend towards a thinner and more delicate varnish, and more personality of expression - still with respect towards the old violin making traditions. It's obvious that luthiers across the globe have better access to information about the old Cremonese instruments than they've had before. I believe, like many collegues and musicians, that the level of violin making has never been as high as today.

My viola is in the center of the picture above.

There is of course the dilemma with competitions of this kind, just like with competitions for violinists. It's a matter of taste, and the time is limited for the evaluation of each instrument / musician. And you don't want to end up with all instruments / musicians sounding the same. I know that the issue of standardization and uniformity is a subject of discussion among musicians too. Luckily there are young, talented violinists out there with their own unique style, and I hope they get the credit and encouragement they deserve. There should be a place for both quality and diversity among both luthiers and musicians.

I had a great time at the opening of the exhibition. I made new friends, and I got a chance to talk to Peter Beare and Etienne Vatelot, both of whom expressed appreciation for my viola. Looking forward to more competitions / exhibitions next year, for instance the Triennale in Cremona.
Awards Concours Etienne Vatelot
Jury Concours Etienne Vatelot

Domaine Magellan, AOC Coteaux du Languedoc (Pezenas) 2009.
Tonight we had a potato gratin with mushrooms and garlic, and the perfect wine to go with it - the Domaine Magellan Coteaux du Languedoc 2009. A deep purple wine with typical Languedoc features in abundance.

The winery is in Magalas, 10 km north of Béziers. The Syrah and Grenache grapes that went into this wine were manually harvested and no commercial yeast was added during the vinification. The wine was then aged in 3 to 5 year old barrels for 9 months.
The aroma is warm and full of blackberry, blueberry, vanilla, chocolate and licorice notes with a hint of herbal spices.
On the palate there's a warm and energetic feeling, very fruity and with quite a lot of mouth watering acidity and fine tannins. Full, balanced, fresh fruit but with some maturity too. A model of harmony! I'll have another sip!!
Magellan web site.

The magic of sound and the magic of taste.

When you hear a really good violin played by a really excellent violinist, it's magic. It's hard to believe that the sound comes out of a small wooden box. The musician has practised for years and years to be able to turn the friction between the bow and the strings into a convincing musical expression. And the perfection of the violin is the work of many luthiers through the centuries. If you haven't experienced the magic of violin sound yet, go to a chamber music concert, like a solo violin recital, violin with piano or guitar accompaniment, or a string trio or quartet. Have a cup of coffee before the concert, get a seat in one of the front rows. and focus on the music. Exclude all other thoughts. Then tell me about your experience.

Likewise, a wine that has that almost unreal explosion of nuances of taste, hasn't come about by coincidence. Years and years of tending the vines, and developing the vinification and ageing process, can, if done on the right terroir and by the right people, turn a beverage made from grapes into something fantastic. If you haven't tasted a sublime wine yet, put a few extra dollars or euros into buying a wine that has got some good reviews, and seem to have the characteristics that you usually enjoy. If it's a red wine, open the bottle a couple of hours in advance, make sure it has the right temperature and that you have a good wine glass. Then enjoy the wine on its own or with the right food or snack to go with it. Focus on the aroma and taste of the wine, without distracting conversation. Then you might understand what the fuzz is about, if you were lucky with your choice of wine.

The violin:
Ulf Kloo 2009, nr.62, made from Bosnian spruce and maple. The sound has a velvety character with hints of leather and dark chocolate but with enough spice to catch an audience in a large hall. Good balance between openness and focus. The varnish is antiqued.
The wine:
See label. Corbières Boutenac is an appelation in the Languedoc-Roussillon. The wine is made from Carignan, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah grapes, and has an intense aroma and taste of blackberry, dark chocolate, licorice, black pepper, herbs and leather. Sufficient acidity and ample but rounded tannins. Long pleasant aftertaste. The colour is a deep ruby red.
Château La Voulte Gasparets