Make Mine a Minervois Part Deux

Anne-Marie & Roland in the cellar (thus the dark pic, apologies)

When I’m in France for the trade shows, I usually use the train system.  It’s pretty clean, comfortable, fast, shockingly efficient (except when it’s not – say for example when the national railroad, SNCF, is on strike), not too expensive, and drops you off in the middle of cities.  No need for cars and all their attendant expenses.  It’s also great when traveling into the countryside of the Languedoc, which is quite vast and still relatively under-developed.   Heck, when you land at Charles de Gaulle, you don’t even have to go into Paris to take the TGV, there’s one at the airport (which was surprisingly clean and well-organized on this trip, very un-French-like, frankly).

I left Montpellier and headed south along the coast to Narbonne, from where I took a smaller regional train to a town called Lezignac (go ahead and Google it, I’ll wait).  It’s small, but I was going to a smaller village, Castelnau d’Aude (Google THAT, with its 300 inhabitants!).  I was met at the little station (very quaint) by my newest Minervois winemaker, Roland Coustal of Domaine Terres Georges.

He picked me up in a beat-up old van with a wooden pallet in the back and mud caked on the insides.  The interior smelled of wine.  Love it!

Anne-Marie & Roland contemplative in their vineyards (and better lighting)

We drove the 15 minutes to the domaine, which is in the center of Castelnau d’Aude, down a VERY narrow street (I swore we’d bang the walls, but made it through miraculously each time).  Here, Roland and Anne-Marie had built a gîte, a small apartment, on top of their barn.  The décor was very pretty and I’d happily spend a few more nights there if I could. 

We drove the 15 minutes to the domaine, which is in the center of Castelnau d’Aude, down a VERY narrow street (I swore we’d bang the walls, but made it through miraculously each time).  Here, Roland and Anne-Marie had built a gîte, a small apartment, on top of their barn.  The décor was very pretty and I’d happily spend a few more nights there if I could. 

Comfy & quiet bed

But this was my first visit and so I wanted to check things out for myself, including the vineyards and back-vintages.  Roland and Anne-Marie took over the domaine from her family, after her father fell ill and died in 1998.  After several years of cleaning up the winery and ripping out poorly-performing vines, their first vintage was in 2001.

In fact, I had the opportunity to try a vertical of the Quintessence, one of their higher-end wines, which from 2001 to 2008 was 100% old-vine Syrah.  In 2009, Roland added 20% Grenache, and the rest is history.  The wines in general are alive and marked by a surprising freshness, minerality and acidity, shocking when you consider where they are (temperatures regularly reach over 95F in summer for long periods).  And I’m not just talking about this wine but all their wines.  They truly are wines that reflect their source and their terroir.  But more on that later.

80% 60+ year old Syrah, 20% 65+ year old Grenache

We spent the first day in the vines, something I never get tired of.  They have 12 hectares (29.65 acres) scattered among 24 different plots, with some seriously dense planting (4800-5500 vines/hectare).  Yields are low but manageable, in the 30 hectoliter/hectare (I’m tired, you do the math if you want the US numbers) range.  There’s lots of old vines (Syrah, Carignan, Grenache, Mourvèdre), and no new oak, but several wines do see some time in 2-, 3- and 4- year old casks to let them soften and round off a tad (Quintessence and Racine, I’m looking at you).

Gnarly 60+ year old Carignan

The soils are for the most part dry limestone, with stones thrown randomly around the vineyards.  One planting is actually on top of a the ruins of an ancient Roman village, so it’s not unusual to see pottery shards showing up after a rain (I saw some myself) – pretty cool.

Roman pottery in the vines

 Roland is fanatical about keeping his vineyards clean and healthy.  He believes that there should be an integrated approach to maintaining his vines, that using just one method isn't enough.  So while they're not technically certified Organic, they do practice Organic viticulture and follow those principles.  So there's grass between the rows, there's no chemical interference, and he encourages the growth of good insects and animals to help keep his lands alive.  In fact, while walking through the vineyards, we came across something I'd never seen before, a bird's nest nestled comfortably in the crook of a vine.  Roland was giddy with happiness, saying "This shows to me that things are alive and healthy."  You be the judge:

Nest in the vines

I've seen my fair share of vines and vineyards and can sometimes get cynical, but even I thought that was pretty damn cool.  We also visited his chai, where the wines are made, both in cement and stainless steel tanks to maintain their purituy, as you can see below.

Cement tanks

After a lovely lunch cooked over vine cuttings, Roland brought up a bunch of Quintessence, going back to the very first vintage, 2001.  OK, it's not that long ago by Burgundian standards, but for a new winery to be making wines that last 12+ years is pretty impressive.  

Quintessence Vertical 2001-2011

 I won't bore you with each wine's tasting note, but I can say that overall the wines were really beautiful expressions of their terroir and their constituent grapes.  I will be honest and say I wasn't sure what to expect, so I was really genuinely shocked and impressed at the quality visible here.  These were gorgeous!  Granted, they're using 60+ year old Syrah and Grenache, but I think the fact that these were so lovely shows off Roland's winemaking skills.  

Roland is a superstar, and a great person too, and it's a real pleasure to be importing Terre Georges' wines into the US.

Cheers!
PS: The full picture album is here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150954619536837.410484.13939566836&type=3