Latest News
28/5/10 Fabulous reviews from Jancis Robinson
Jancis lists us among her favourite 30 producers in the whole of the Languedoc-Roussillon. Not bad considering there are 3000 of us to choose from.
At Vinisud we had the pleasure of meeting the exuberent Tamlyn Currin who is part of Jancis's small but highly talented tasting and writing team.
Jancis has now published her article on "Strangers in the Languedoc" (subscribers only) which features Domaine Treloar. It tells our story much better than I have ever managed to do and the critical reviews of our wines are still making me blush. Click here for the tasting notes.
15/5/10 Is the The Year of the Volcano?
2010 is turning out to be a very odd year weather-wise. First we had a very dry winter, then a foot of snow in March, followed by a hot spell when the Icelandic volcano stopped flights. Then it turned very cold with driving rain for 2 weeks in April and early May. Now the rain has stopped and La Tramontane has arrived with winds of up to 50kmh.
Despite this weirdness the vines are looking pretty healthy and the weather has actually reduced the need to spray against the usual mildews. Traditional farmers (organic and conventional) have been wasting time and money on chemicals but I haven't sprayed anything yet. That's Sustainable Viticulture.
5/5/10 New Shipments to Canada
We are pleased to announce that some of our wines will shortly be available in Ontario and Alberta.
For Ontario, please contact Pascale Daignault at Oakpoint Wines or on 519-337-5288.
For Alberta, please contact Marc Vigneron of Nobilis Wine Importers on 403-296-0170
1/5/10 Wine Educators Visit
A rather embarrasing start to the day. It was booked in the diary for 8:30 Saturday morning. Where was I? In bed reading "Bad Science". Whoops! Quick shower, brush teeth, off we go...
An hour in the vineyard discussing Richard Smart's theories on viticulture, why I believe Sustainable Viticulture is more ecological than Organics, the truth and the myths of terroir and the various diseases that affect grapevines.
It was a very interesting visit, for me as well as the group, because of the questions.
Follow the link for more information on the classes and tours run by the Association of Wine Educators
1/3/10 One Block wins Gold Medal 
Our One Block Grenache was entered in the Berlin Wine Trophy by our German importer Rindchen's Weinkontor and came away with a gold medal. Not having known that the wine was even in the competition, we are naturally pleased with the news.
What is happening all too often is that by the time the results of tastings or competitions are published, the recommended vintage has all been bought. As I feel that our wines are improving all the time, mainly due to the effects of my vineyard work, this is not really a problem.
4/2/10 We now have a UK Agent
We are pleased to announce that our wines are now being represented in the UK by Hallgarten Druit. We'll still be available through our existing merchants but we are hoping that Hallgarten will help us reach new customers that we couldn't supply directly. It will also save me a lot of paperwork and those uncomfortable phone calls prospecting merchants.
As part of their UK roadshow, I'll be presenting our wine at France Under One Roof at Lords Cricket Ground on 10th March.
14/1/10 Three Peaks - The Best Value wine in the Region
Gerhart Eichelmanns, a highly-respected German wine journalist has listed our Three Peaks as the best value-for-money wine out of 1500 Roussillon wines tasted during his exhaustive tour of the region. The notes are published in "Mondo 57".
6/1/10 Love That Roussillon
Over the holidays we had the pleasure of welcoming Ryan O'Connor. Ryan wears two hats. He's the winemaker of O'Vineyards in the Cotes de la Malpere and the author and director of Love That Languedoc, a video blog of the wines and winemakers of the Languedoc-Roussillon. We had a good old chat while tasting the new Rose and my white wines. Move over Oz Clarke, I think we have a new on-screen wine personality! Watch the video here.
15/12/09 Fairytale of Clonakilty
We spent 5 days in beautiful West Cork as Dena's guests at O'Donovans Hotel. On the Thursday night there was a superb dinner for 60 guests, matching our wines with great local food. I was amazed how well One Block Grenache went with rich Tomato Soup !
It would
not have been the same without our local guides Karen and Brian.
Some of our wines are available in the "Next Door" wine store in Clonakilty for a limited time.
4/1/10 Four New Wines
Today we finally labelled and boxed-up our new wines. I'm really happy with the labels which I think represent a significant improvement over our first vintage.
The new wines are :
One Block Muscat 2008
La Terre Promise 2008
Rose of Treloar 2009
Le Ciel Vide 2008
One Block Grenache 2008
Three Peaks 2007
Le Secret 2007
Motus 2007
These wines are already being ordered by our merchants in the UK, Germany and Denmark so if you would like to get some before they are gone, you can order on line here. If you can't collect your wine just yet, we're happy to store it for you at the winery.
26/11/09 Inspected by the LRO
This morning we were inspected by the new authority in charge of ensuring the quality of AOC wines. The inspection focussed mainly on documentation - vineyard and winery records and having done the correct declarations - but also an inspection of the winery for cleanliness and quality of the winemaking facilities.
Thankfully we passed with flying colours. They were particularly impressed with my winemaking records so I'm feeling quite chuffed.
10/11/09 Home Delivery in Ireland
We can now offer wine for home delivery throughout Ireland and brillant prices compared to what you can find in the shops. Click here to order wine for Christmas.
In December we are visiting West Cork to hold a wine dinner at O'Donnels Hotel in Clonakilty and to watch USAP play Munster. Click here for more information.
19/11/09 Follow us on Twitter
I have been persuaded to use Twitter to keep people up to date on what's happening at Domaine Treloar. If you would like to follow us, click here.
6/11/09 Rindchen's Vinorell
Just before Rindchen's annual wine fair I got a call from the owner, Gert Rindchen. "Jonathan, we want to do something really special with your wines this year. We want to make Three Peaks the wine of the month. We will need 10 000 bottles"
I replied "I'm sorry Gert, we only have 7500 left"
So on the 6th November I flew to Hamburg to help promote the Wine of The Month. It went down great guns! When I returned I got a call saying "Are you sure you don't have any more Three Peaks? We have sold 8000 bottles already!"
None of the 2006 was left but the 2007 is possibly even better!
14/10/09 Harvest is finally over
We pressed the last of the reds last week with the help of Keiron, a Captain in the Light Dragoons, who has joined us for a 2 week stint to decide whether winemaking is a better lifestyle than fighting the Taliban in Afganistan.
Harvest
went really well. All our grapes were in really good condition despite the
rain during the year. Our yields were as expected although Rachel says she's
feeling a little bit old for this picking lark and hopes to get promoted
to chief grape inspector next year!
We
had Plumpton College winemaking student Tom with us for the month which
was a massive help and he has agreed to come back next year as our Assistant
Winemaker again, which is great news for us - and for Lydia who likes to
beat him at football!
Veteran vendangeuse, Claudine, declared at the end of her 3rd year picking for us that she will be back again next year as we're the only domaine that serves croissaints and coffee at morning tea break.
We have also managed to keep the tours going during Harvest with the help of Anne-Marie and Jon's mum Sybil - a mission but not impossible - and hope that those who came during our busiest period enjoyed their time picking grapes and the BBQ afterwards.
Jerome,
the somellier from Midsummer, and his girlfriend Izabella, from the Capital
Hotel and Restaurant in London were our resident pickers. Having two
2 star Michelin people in the house means Rachel and I needed to serve up
our best dishes!
We have enjoyed many evenings laughing over good wine and food with all the people who stayed with us. Hopefully they are all addicted to our wine and playing board games such as 'Carcasonne', 'Settlers of Catan' and our favourite at the moment 'Monopoly Deal'. Kieron, predictably, prefers 'Risk'.
On the Wine front
Good news and bad news. The good news is that we have decided to finally succomb to demand and make a rosé which will be released in December - aptly titled 'Rose of Treloar'. We have also made some more Muscat de Rivesaltes for the first time since 2006.
The Guide Hachette 2010 came out with our One Block Red 07 receiving a star recommendation - unfortunately this wine is now sold out from the Domaine but there is a small quantity available in the UK and Germany.
The bad news (for you) is that we have sold out of four wines in France:
3 Peaks 2006
One Block Red 2007
Motus 2006
La Terre Promise 2007
Because of this we have decided to offer the following limited deal on the 2006 red wines until we release the new range in December. So now is a good time to make sure you have some of our first ever vintage in your cellar.
Le Secret 2006 €10 instead of €12
Tahi 2006 €14 instead of €17
Our 10% discount on unmixed cases still applies at the winery and don't
forget that we offer completely free delivery
of wines to any address in France. Order Here.
15/7/09 Treloar Wines in Denmark
We are pleased to announce our lastest importer - Peder Hermansen of Garrigue Vin. I shall be holding a winetasting in Struer on the 27th October. Please contact Peder for details.
31/8/09 Guide Hachette 2010
We have just learned that we have been recommended by the Guide Hachette again for our second vintage. One Block Red 2007 was awarded a star.
27/8/09 The 2009 Harvest Begins
We started the harvest a little earlier than last year, picking Muscat for the One Block as usual. The grapes were in better condition than last year but the yields, despite the spring rains, were still a little bit lower than expected.
Two days later we picked Macabeu, Grenache gros and Carignan blanc for La Terre Promise. These grapes were in almost perfect condition and I'm very positive about the potential of the wine.
Next week we are looking at making our first Rosé from the young (5 years old) block of Syrah just up the road from the winery.
22/8/09 Irish Times Article
We were featured in an article in the Saturday edition of the Irish times last week. To read the article see here.
20/7/09 Bottling the 2007 Vintage
After many careful blending trials, I finally decided upon the perfect assemblage for the 2007 Tahi, Le Secret and Three Peaks. I'm very excited about these wines but they won't be released for another 3 months, when they have have recovered from bottle shock.
We've also bottled the 2008 white wines. Just in time, as La Terre Promise 2007 has pretty much sold out. 2008 is slightly different as it has Grenache gris and Carignan blanc as well as Macabeu making it richer with more tropical fruit flavours on top of the mineral, citrussy core.
16/7/09 Jancis Robinson's Reviews
Britain's most respected critic has just published a long-awaited review of the best wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon on her website. All of our wines were included in the list. At the moment it is only available to subscribers but I will be reprinting our write-ups on our Reviews page once we have permission.
16/7/09 Trip to Bristol and Cornwall
I exhibited at the Bristol Wine and Food fair last weekend. The event had a pretty mixed set of visitors which always makes for interesting feedback. I was well organised and very enjoyable despite the rain.
Afterwards I drove down to Newquay to visit Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall and The Headland Hotel who are now listing several of our wines through Damien Chase at Free Run Juice. Both establishments have fantastic views as well as brilliant food and friendly, efficient service. It brought back great memories as Rachel and I spent our Honeymoon in Cornwall 10 years ago.
11/6/09 ** Michelin Listing
I've just been told that 3 of our wines (One Block Muscat, Motus and Tahi) are going to be listed at Midsummer House, a Two Michelin Star restaurant in Cambridge. Hotel du Vin also list a wider range of our wines.
In Cornwall we've been listed at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant, The Headland Hotel and South Café, Mannaccan, which is just down the road from the village of Treloar!
Our wines are also now available in more cavistes in the Roussillon. See the list here.
10/5/09 Real Food and Seat of Learning
In May I made a trip to England to do two very different events. The first was the Real Food Festival in London. Attracting thousands of visitors in search of something beyond the mass-produced, overly packaged, generally tasteless items available in the supermarkets. The wine-lovers were rewarded by interesting offerings from England, France, Australia and South Africa.
The second was to Cambridge to do tasting for the University Wine Club. By strange coincidence the last two guests they'd invited were Les Clos Perdus, an Anglo-Aussie operation near Narbonne, and my ex-employers, Tim and Judy Finn of Neudorf.
14/4/09 VinArt 2009 - a Great Success
We had over 300 visitors to our second annual art and wine fair. The range of art was even more diverse than last year, with artists from France, England, Scotland, Germany, Canada and South Africa.
We raised 400 € for Cancer Support France a charity which provides support to English-speaking cancer sufferers in France.
Thanks to everyone who exhibited and to all those who came to enjoy the day (despite the weather outside), the art and the wine.
31/3/09 The Wine Gang Reviews our Wines
The Wine Gang is a panel of 5 of the UK's top wine writers - Tim Aitkin, Tom Cannavan, Joanna Simon, Anthony Rose and Olly Smith. It is a unique wine information service that relies only on subscription and not on advertising, hence avoiding conflics of interest. See www.thewinegang.com for more information.
They gave wonderfully complimentary reviews of our wines. None of them being awarded anything less than 87 points (Bronze medal standard). All our Cotes du Roussillons were awarded 90 points with the exception of the Tahi, which was rated a stunning 93/100. Points are, of course, not everything so read the full reviews here.