Chateau la Crabière,
Fronton, France
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LOCAL GIRL
MAKES GOOD (WINE!)
Crosby born Sarah Cameron, a former pupil
at Merchant Taylor’s Girls School, and her husband
Angus, bought this 20 hectare property in Fronton
in 2004.
Sarah is the winemaker, having studied viticulture
and vinification at the highly regarded Plumpton College
and worked at Ridgeview Vineyard in East Sussex.
Chateau la Crabière takes its name from the
Occitan word for goatherd – apparently goats
were kept on the land before vines were planted.
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Chateau la Crabière
Fronton Rouge 2005
Fronton is some 70km north of Toulouse in southwest
France. The significant variety here is Négrette,
a black grape that must comprise between 50% and
70% of the blend in any red or rosé wines
made under this Appellation. In this instance, it
is blended with Syrah and Cabernet Franc to give
a supple, juicy red with a deceptively low ABV (12%vol).
This wine was one of Jonathan
Ray’s ‘Wines of the week’ in the
Telegraph ‘Weekend’ earlier this year.
He observed “…
this quirky (and none too alcoholic) red is full
of violets, liquorice and spicy bitter cherry. Ideal
with rich stews.” |
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Chateau la Crabière Fronton Rosé 2005
As with Sarah’s red, this is mainly Négrette,
with the remainder of the blend given to Cabernet
Franc and Syrah. A deliciously dry yet fruit-forward
and flavoursome rosé, it has 'a lot more about
it’ than many southern French offerings, indeed
it was selected as one of the ‘top 100 rosés’
at this years LIWSF. We like it because it has a lovely
intensity of fruit but is completely dry, elegant
and very well-balanced. |
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