Languedoc Roussillon
Leon Barral
Faugères
Background
Didier Barral has 25-hectares of biodynamically-farmed vineyards on slightly acid schist soils in which a little of everything grows. Everything starts from the soil which must be made as healthy as possible. In his words, "Nowadays, farmers feed the planet but destroy it at the same time. Sometimes they think they are doing the right thing by ploughing too often for example, which eventually damages the soil structure. We have to observe nature and to understand how micro-organisms operate. Then we see that tools and machinery can never replace the natural, gentle work of earthworms, insects and other creatures that travel through a maze of tunnels, creating porosity and aerating the soil, making it permeable and alive. There‘s grass in our vineyards and amongst the grass, there are cows and horses: a whole living world that lives together, each dependent on the other and each being vital to the balance of the biotope".
Didier is a perfectionist in the vineyard and believes in totally natural vinification. Triage is vital for the quality of the grapes which makes or breaks the wine. The fermentation is done with wild yeasts, pigeage is by hand, long macerations are followed by ageing in wood, and the assemblage (all grape varieties are vinified separately) follows eighteen to twenty-four months later. The wines are bottled with no filtering or fining. And how do they taste? Well, they have a magnificent fruity intensity; his aim is to make something irresistible: a bottle of wine that no one would want to leave unfinished.
Wine
The “Faugères” is a blend of Carignan, Grenache and Cinsault. The Cinsault is amazing, yielding luscious aromas of cherry, plums and violet; the Carignan provides colour and concentration and the Grenache gives fragrant garrigue notes of bay leaf and thyme as well as a supple mouthfeel.Delicious. “Jadis” is Carignan (50%), Syrah (40%) and a soupçon of Grenache. The colour is deep blackish-purple, almost opaque. Ripe plum and black-cherry scents dominate a fruit-forward aroma, but there's plenty of earth to please the truffle-hounds. “Jadis” is widely regarded one of the truly great wines from the Languedoc.
Mourvèdre is the grape that gives Didier real pleasure. It is perceived as difficult to bring to even maturity, but according to Didier it‘s all about the health of the vine which in turn is about the health of the soil. His “Valinière”, named after a small stream, and made from 80% Mourvèdre and 20% Syrah, has deep purple colour and a glorious nose that includes dark fruits, warm leather, dark chocolate, fine floral notes, black olives and all the spices of the orient. The mouth follows the nose, conveying a suppleness, where density and power are controlled and shows an acidity that completes the wine, gives it equilibrium, finesse, length in the mouth as well as a great capacity to age. Fabulous wine and indeed one of the best of France.
Maxime Magnon
Corbières
Background
Up in the wild, scrubby landscape of the Corbières is one of the most talented young vignerons in France; shy, modest and honest he rents 11 hectares of vines in and around Villeneuve des Corbières at about 300m above sea level and nestled well into the mountains.
He has Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah planted in the schist and limestone soils; some of the vines are more than a hundred years old! For white wine he has Grenache Gris and Grenache Blanc which he blends to produce a single cuvee each year. The respect for the soils is paramount to Maxime and he has a little menagerie of farm animals living with him that he lets loose in the vineyards between November and April to cultivate and help develop the natural environment and microflora. It goes without saying that there are no pesticides or insecticides used at this estate.
All grapes are manually harvested in to small crates and taken to a cold room before being whole bunch fermented at ambient temperature by carbonic maceration using only indigenous yeasts. After this the fermentation is allowed to continue in the traditional method in open top casks with daily pigeage.
Following the fermentation the wines are all élevaged in cement tanks and old barrels before being bottled without fining or filtration.
Maxime learned his winemaking from one of the best in France;
Jean Foillard from the Beaujolais. You can see the influence in his wine too. Delicious, velvety and juicy fresh they burst with beautiful perfume and life - these brilliant wines could win over the most jaded palates and will bring a smile to even the most obstinately weary drinker.
Wine
La Bégou is produced from 90% Grenache Gris and Grenache Blanc, it’s piercingly fresh and floral with faint hints at pear, the fact that the grapes were grown at altitude keeps this wine fine and mineral. The red’s begin with La Démarrante an impossibly silken and delicious blend of Carignan and Cinsault which is unputdownable. Rozeta is blended from 65% old Carignan and the rest Grenache and Syrah; it’s got velvety rich and brambly fruit but with incredible freshness and clarity—perhaps Jean Foillard’s influence.. Lastly, Campagnès—made from century old Carignan and Grenache from decomposed Schist soils—possesses clarity and finesse and such fine and elegant tannins you may question whether this comes from the Languedoc or Burgundy—it’s a very special wine.
Jean Baptiste Sénat
Minervois
The vignoble of Minervois is visually and functionally hard. Staring at a field of rocks from which gnarled vines struggle to emerge and plump up a few angry grapes isn't like gazing over the verdant plains and hillsides of certain other regions and one can see the work that will be necessary, and the heartbreak that sprouts from the earth in every weathered vine.
Minervois is known thanks to a lot of hard work on the part of a relatively small number of dedicated producers but itís most definitely not a well-known name and the search for greater acknowledgement is an uphill struggle; it doesn't help that a lot of the wines that carry the name never really rise above average... Thankfully, there are a few producers who put in the necessary work to make great wine in the Minervois and their vines reward the attention given to them with fabulous quality fruit. Vigneron 'rebel' Jean-Baptiste Senat is one such producer. A star in the Languedoc.
His vines are a mix of carignan, grenache, mourvedre, cinsaut and a little bit of syrah and some of them quite old (the carignan, for example, comes from 1902). Senat works organically, by hand, with natural yeasts, and without refrigeration, letting his casks (large and small) and subterranean vats find a natural balance. His pleasure in wine, he insists, comes from the ìglissantî of balanced, healthy wine.
More often than not, rebels must make do with posthumous gratification.
Fortunately, Jean-Baptiste Senat needs not to wait to benefit from his attitude towards work and life. Thirteen years ago, he brought his refreshing zeal back to his family's vineyard, and now delivers wines that are all the rage in France and belong to that special group of our vignerons who's wines are impossible to find outside it's borders. They are flavour packed and powerful but still charming and refreshing; or in his own deadpan, "very drinkable".
South West