A Genius in Jonquières: Olivier Jullien.
10/14/12 -
(Thanks to the kind folks at Rosenthal Wine Merchant for the use of their photo.)
My awareness of Mas Jullien dates back to a period of scholarship that consisted of long afternoons reading about wine in the fall sunshine. This was exactly five years ago and I was reading Andrew Jefford’s The New France, a book that may seem a bit dated today, but nonetheless contains much relevant material about the wine regions of France and their top producers. After describing Olivier Jullien as “mercurial, poetic, and intuitive,” Jefford goes on to tell the story of a young vigneron with deep roots in the Languedoc who saw the potential to make high quality wine on his native terroir, when the majority of the region’s wine was mass-produced plonk. Jullien began with his family’s vines, but soon looked to acquire additional parcels in and around Jonquières on the steep, limestone-rich and schist-heavy Terraces of Larzac. He found the means to vinify and bottle his own wine when previously his family had sold to the local cooperative. Jullien is known for two red wines: a pure, age-worthy, and stately expression of Mas Jullien, and a fruitier and more forward Coteaux du Langeudoc called “L’États d’Âme” or “States of the Soul,” a wine that often features one of Jullien’s poems on the label. Currently the Languedoc is in the midst of the Renaissance. The region now boasts many exciting new vignerons, but at the time Jullien began, he was one of a very few, and he remains one of the very best. In an attempt to understand the wines of Mas Jullien, I bought a bottle of “States of Soul” at what seemed to me, as a burgeoning wine professional, a very high price for Languedoc wine, and I recall the deep funk of the region’s soil knit into the wild, garrique-y nature of the wine.
If Jullien’s red wines are great, his white wine – made in miniscule quantities – is a revelation; it’s the sort of juice that makes us white wine lovers weak in the knees, longing for another sip and struggling for words. The cépage is a traditional blend of southern French varieties: Clairette, Carignan Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, and Viognier, with a northern interloper: Chenin Blanc. Clairette and Carignan Blanc form the base of the wine, with the other varieties adding depth and nuance. The wine is raised in a combination of barrel and tank and, while absolutely delicious young, develops beautifully in the cellar. We have the opportunity to offer three vintages of Mas Jullien Blanc; each wine shows the distinct character of vintage, as well as the essential character of the wine. In order to urge you either to remember, or to discover for the first time, what a special winemaker Olivier Jullien is, we’d like to extend a 10% discount on any combination of six bottles from today’s offer, and we’ll discount cases by 15%. (Note: discounts will be applied manually and will not appear when ordering via the website.) Detailed notes to follow… Salut! -Sophie
