Languedoc-Roussillon Smorgasbord - Introducing Domaine Reveille and More!
10/12/2024
Originally intended as an introduction of a brand new estate, Domaine Reveille from the Roussillon, this weekend's newsletter has now grown to slightly epic proportions! We are very excited to share the Reveille wines with our customers around the country, but after tasting new arrivals from Clos Fantine and Mas Coutelou, and drinking bottles from Danjou-Bannessy and Cyril Fhal (Clos du Rouge Gorge/Hors Champs), we just couldn't help ourselves and now we have a smorgasbord. With a slight cool breeze in the air, one could say the timing is impeccable - what better time than the Fall to stock up on versatile wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon! Though some of our offerings are "classic" in a sense, with garrigue flavors, dark fruit and southern rusticity, others represent a new trend in the region, with shorter macerations, and a search for balance and freshness that brings us flavors of the Mediterranean with a nod to the Loire Valley or Beaujolais ! If you're in the mood to get straight to the wines we will provide a link for your convenience, and if you'd like to add to your weekend literature, keep scrolling for a bit of background on some of the estates featured today.... and do take note of the very special regional dessert wines, in particular the Maury Grenat, a deep, rich, sun-kissed, damijon aged delicacy from our friend Philippe Wies at La Petite Baigneuse. Though it might be blasphemy to the Catalans, I discovered it happened to be quite tasty over ice with a splash of seltzer this past Summer! -Eben Lillie
>>> View The Wines Here or Keep Reading Below <<<
France Crispeels, of Belgian origins, moved to Marseille in the early 2000s and settled down in Cassagnes in the Roussillon after studying winemaking in Provence. From the beginning, she applied organic and biodynamic approach in the vineyards, and also planted cover-crops to help regenerate the soil and trees as a greater project of agro-forestry. She has been a regular attendant at one of our favorite, down to earth wine fairs, "Les Affranchis," and after tasting with her earlier this year in January, we recognized that her wines would make a lot of sense at Chambers Street! Her winery, which she named Reveille, has about 15 hectares total of vines, in the Pyrénées-Orientales (see photo at top of the email), facing the Mediterranean Sea and surrounded by mountains. The climate is Mediterranean, so temperate, with a strong northern wind called Tramontane blowing all year round, making it relatively easy to work biodynamically in the vines. The wines from Domaine Reveille cover quite a range, from juicy, light-bodied reds to old-vines expressions of Carignan and Grenache. We're excited to introduce France and her wines to our readers and look forward to more wines from Domaine Reveille in the future!
Jean-Francois "Jeff" Coutelou has been producing some of the most delicious and vibrant natural wines coming from the Languedoc. The estate has been in the family for four generations, organic since 1987, and selling to the local co-op until 1996, when the Mas Coutelou project was born. French locals and some lucky folks around the world have all been drinking better since then!
Today the estate is a bit less than 13 hectares (~32 acres) comprised of separate parcels of traditional Languedoc varieties and some long forgotten selection massale varieties on clay and limestone. In places where vines were too compromised by conventional farming, there are now a bevy of olive trees, shurbs, and protective hedges. All of the work is done manually, with careful attention to biodiversity and reducing impact on local eco-systems. The cellar work is equally thoughtful. His vinification methods and vessels vary depending on variety and vintage in order to promote the purest expression of each; but he always uses indigenous yeasts and never adds SO2 (even for his sweet wines).
The hallmarks of the Coutelou style are Languedoc authenticity, vibrant, lifted acidity, rustic garrigue-driven flavors, and always a soft elegance that one could argue is often missing from some of the contrived natural wines hitting the market as of late. These are what some would call "real wines" or "living wines" and we're always happy to have them on the shelf!
Clos Fantine is a small family winery that sits on breezy, sloping hills behind the commune of Cabrerolles in the Faugères AOC. The long road that winds up to the front door is lined with brightly colored wildflowers sprouting between slabs of exposed schist, and 9 hectares of gnarly vines and fruit trees.
After inheriting the winery from their father, siblings Caroline, Olivier, and Corine Andrieu continue to live and make wine in the house where their grandmother was born. The property totals around 30 hectares of organic Mourvèdre, Grenache, Terret Blanc and Gris, Cinsault, Syrah, and Aramont (a very old variety, planted in 1915) vines. Each of their parcels was "liberated" from their wire-training 20 years ago and now grow in perfect rows as bush vines -- which they say is preferable for the windy hillsides and sunny clime. In an effort to encourage biodiversity in the vines, they do not plow, so the grass grows high between the rows in the summer and is managed by sheep in the winter.
The wines from Clos Fantine have been a staple for our Languedoc section for some time now. It seems that the winemaking becomes more intuitive and confident with each new vintage.
Our sifu, David Lillie, first met Cyril Fhal in 2004 at the Dive Bouteille, a "natural" wine show in the Loire Valley, where he was showing his 2002 Carignan/Grenache red and a 2003 white from 100% Maccabeu. The wines were elegant, balanced and full of character, certainly among the finest from the new generation of wine-makers in the Languedoc-Roussillon.
Subsequent vintages from the quietly talented Cyril Fhal were uniquely beautiful, with pure silky fruit, moderate levels of alcohol and firm acidity - delicious examples of the indigenous grapes of the Roussillon, but available only at a hand-full of retailers and wine-bars in Europe. David tasted with Cyril for 8 years before finally having a chance to bring some of his wines into New York. Together with our old pal Fifi, who was running the show at Ten Bells at the time, Chambers Street obtained a small allocation of Cyril's wines in 2012. The wines left lasting impressions on many of our customers far and wide, and remain some of the more captivating and energetic expressions from the Roussillon.
Cyril Fhal came to the Roussillon from the Loire Valley, and found small parcels of north-facing hillside vineyards, on gneiss, near the village of Latour-de-France, about 20 miles north-west of Perpignan, with the soil, exposure and altitude of the vines giving freshness and minerality to the wines. The vines have been tended in biodynamic farming from the beginning, with light plowing by hand, horse or rototiller, there being no tractor at the domain. Natural composts and biodynamic treatments have revitalized the soil, and plants and flowers between and around the vines bring beneficial insects and a diverse fauna. Cyril rejected the AOC regulations of the Roussillon, which require 30% Syrah or Mourvedre, not indigenous to the region, "which by their excess of maturity and lack of acidity in this climat, result in fat and heavy wines," thus his reds from the local Carignan and Grenache are Vins de Pays Cote Catalanes. Yields at Clos Rouge Gorge are normally 10 to 20 hl/ha, harvesting is by hand into small baskets, light crushing by foot is followed by slow fermentations (traditional, not carbonic maceration) with no extraction, alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation in barrel. These are wines of great purity and finesse that combine delicacy and power - bravo to Cyril Fhal for his superb work in the vineyard and cellar!
His side project, called Hors Champs, was started about a decade ago, combining fruit from neighbors and other organic/regenerative farmers and employing young aspiring winemakers in a community project to make delicious wines. If Hors Champs means more tasty wine from Cyril Fhal, we're game!
The wines from Danjou-Banessy are also personal favorites, especially for a glimpse at how a lighter hand in winemaking can produce wines that are more reminiscent of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Burgundy than they are of regional Languedoc-Roussillon wines. We highly recommend his white, "Coste" and red, "Roboul!"
