Notable New Arrivals from the South of France!
8/17/13 -
(Eric Laguerre's high-altitude vines)
Poor timing perhaps, but we've just received some truly fascinating wines from the Languedoc/Roussillon as well as some beautiful biodynamic wines from Jurançon - one of our favorite of the lesser-known wine regions of France.
The Aurisset family in Cardesse (Jurançon) converted to organic farming in the 1990s and has been certified Biodynamic since 2007. They hand harvest in successive "tries" from October through the end of December, vinify with wild yeasts and age all their wines in old barriques purchased from Yquem and Haut-Brion. They produce a beautiful Jurançon Sec, three different Jurançon (Moelleux) and a lovely Béarn Rouge made from equal amounts of Cabernet Franc and Tannat. We're delighted to offer their extraordinarily complex and affordable wines at Chambers Street.
Also in the mountains bordering Spain, but a few hundred miles to the east, Eric Laguerre tends his superb organic vineyards in the Roussillon. Unique in their very high elevation and the unusual granite soils, Eric's vineyards give distinctly southern wines that possess fresh acidity and pronounced mineral flavors. Recommended to us by Jean Gonon, the Le Ciste Blanc, produced from Grenache Blanc, Maccabeo, Vermentino, Marsanne and Roussanne, is perhaps Laguerre's most distinctive wine.
Thierry Navarre, the third generation at his estate in Saint-Chinian, is a true man of the earth, obviously happiest in his "office," that being his hillside vineyards high above Rocquebrun on brown schist soils. Organic vineyard work, natural composts and hand havesting by a small team of pickers. Thierry peserves "forgotten" varieties such as Oeillades, Ribeyrenc and Terret and has old vines of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. His Cuvée Olivier, from his oldest vines, is particularly oustanding in the 2010 vintage.
Every winter Thierry drives up to "La Dive Bouteille," the natural wine show in Saumur, with his neighbors Anne-Marie and Pierre Lavaysse from le Petit Domaine de Gimios. The windswept high plateaus of Gimios are covered with crushed limestone and planted in ancient vines of Carignan, Terret, Aramon, Grenache, Alicante and Muscat, from which the domain produces dry and sweet Muscat, a sensational rosé and two unusual reds. The farming here is completely without chemical treatments, even the sulfur and copper solutions permitted in organic agriculture are not used. No additves or preservatives are used in the vinification, and yields are a miniscule 15 hl/ha. These are among the finest "natural" wines of France.
The newest additions to our Languedoc portfolio are the superb biodynamic wines of Domaine de la Marfée in Murviel-les-Montpellier. Wines from this clay limestone terroir, known as "Saint-Georges d'Orgues," were famous in the middle ages and were imported to the US by Thomas Jefferson. Vigneron Thierry Hasard believes that the soil must be alive to fully express the terroir, thus he has been Biodynamic since 2003 and does minimal plowing to not disturb the underground flora and fauna. The reds are made from low-yielding vines of Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah, and spend two years in old barriques before bottling with minimal sulfur. These are among the most elegant wines of the Languedoc and deserve your attention.
