2005 Château Flotis Fronton Grand cru Roi de Poulet

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  3/20/2008, (See more on Garagiste...)

  (FLOTIS (roi de poulet)) Flotis Dear Friends, If you want to know what Garagiste is all about, experiment with this wine. It pretty much sums us up in a nutshell. Wine such as this is why I pound the pavement (or gravel or soil) around the world - to give the US consumer a choice. We’ve offered wine from Flotis in the past, but never their top wine, the roi de poulet (a wine with a chicken king on the label and no actual verbiage to differentiate it from the regular Fronton except a purple band around the word Flotis - don’t ask). Chateau Flotis is pushing the boundaries in Fronton and they should ultimately be responsible for the emergence of this relatively unheard of region near Toulouse. Without further introduction, we head straight to the top... This is probably the finest wine produced in the Fronton region and it’s less than $13 - if that isn’t enough to gain your support then I will try to do to justice with my description. This is Negrette and Syrah (with 5-8% “other”) in its purest 2005 form - a vintage that was every bit as profound in this area as it was in Bordeaux. Think old school Cote Rotie meets 1995 red Burgundy and you will be close - all with low alcohol, pin-point precision and your dinner table at heart. This wine has near-perfect ripeness in a light to medium weight style, with incredible levels of essential oil and bright perfume on the nose much like a 1991 Cote Rotie when they were just bottled. Don’t be mislead by this description - this wine is about elegance and a lithe personality even though it is still near-perfect in ripeness. This is not brooding Syrah - this is class, style and red berry spiced fruit with deft acid and a stony, beautiful frame. Keep in mind, ripeness to the Fronton faithful is 11.5-13.0% alcohol (for red wine!) so this is not Pax we’re talking about. This wine should be at its best 1-2 years from now and keep for several more. This is a wine I could drink everyday (or almost everyday, as you don’t want your palate to become dulled or singular by only drinking one type of wine your whole life - one of the biggest errors in judgment my Burgundy-only friends make and a topic they quite enjoy baiting me into discussion on). The 2005 Flotis has a myriad of different elements that make it not only versatile but an electrifying example of real wine produced with the consumer’s pocketbook in mind. They know what they have with their range of 2005s so we may as well start with the best wine as it will sell out the fastest at the winery (at this price). VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as an alternative to Loire Cabernet Franc, traditional St. Joseph or simply as a way of negotiating the unknown world of Fronton. We have a terrific price on this wine, about the same as at the cellar door. 2005 Chateau Flotis Fronton (grand cru/Roi de Poulet) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA SOFR4020