Today I bring you three stellar wines from the Coteaux de Languedoc in very limited quantity - only a few cases available of each.
# 1 Mas de l'Ecriture Emotion Coteaux de Languedoc
I had the this the other
night and was enraptured. It was splendid
- rich, smooth, and concentrated. Of course,
it's a 2005 - the year the grapes were at
their most beautiful and practically made
themselves into wine without bothering the
winemaker at all.
For those unfamiliar with the area, the
Languedoc wine region rings the rim of the
Mediterranean and runs roughly from the city
of Nimes, westward to a bit north of
Perpignan where Roussillon takes over and
continues south to the border of Spain.
The Languedoc is the place to find
extraordinary wines that won't break the
bank. I say extraordinary because there
is a bit of a wine revolution going on in the
Languedoc these days. As the old guard dies
out and the new sweeps in, there have been
momentous changes in the way grapes are grown
and how wine is made. No more machine-picking
all the grapes (whether ripe or not) and
trucking the load off to the cooperative to
be vinified in the communal vat.
Now, growers are vinifying and bottling their
own juice. They have lowered yields
dramatically - sometimes, like at Mas de
l'Ecriture, to half the region's
former level. Hand-picking, careful
selection, oak-ageing - all the technologies
reserved for Burgundy and Bordeaux have
arrived at the Languedoc.
The winery rises out of a valley on flat land
between hills. The soil is made of
limestone, clay, and small stones - a magical
combination that both drains well, during
the often quite violent rainstorms, and holds
moisture well, during the equally frequent
droughts. In addition, the vineyards are
regularly swept by the Mistral, which keeps
the pests away.
Mas de l'Ecriture has 12 hectares under
vines. The work in the winery is as
meticulous as that in the vineyard. Pascal
takes no shortcuts raising his grapes: he
uses no herbicides, he keeps his yields very
low, he hand-picks, he sorts his berries not
once but twice to eliminate any unripe or
unhealthy grapes, and in return, his fruit
sings for him.
#2 Domaine Stella Nova Coteaux de Languedoc
Domaine Stella Nova is
another one of these stunning estates caught up
in this
tenacious effort to make great wine and earn a
legitimate place in the wine world. They are
doing it!
It's all there in the wine.
The wines from Domaine Stella Nova are
Rhone-like - made from Grenache, Syrah, and
Carignan grapes - so if you like pure fruit
expression,
and the headiness of
Cotes du Rhone, these are for you.
Guide Hachette, one of the most
reliable of
the French wine guides, gives Stella Nova a
star and
reports that, from the beginning, "they were a
domaine
to watch," citing the wine's intense color,
toastiness,
ample mouth-filling flavors and solid
structure.
How lucky I was to stumble upon these wonders! I
instantly connected with them.
Domaine Stella Nova is a new estate and
the owners have come with modern ideas and very
high standards and applied them to their
superior
terroir. The estate is small - just
under 9
hectares (a bit over 20 acres). The soil at
Domaine
Stella Nova is varied throughout the vineyard
- stony,
with some clay. The manageable size of the
vineyard
permits the owner and wine maker, Philippe
Richy, to
be totally involved in every aspect of his
vineyard and
winemaking. One of his first decisions was
to
raise his grapes biodynamically - no
herbicide or
chemical treatments. At the heart of
Philippe's
winemaking is a deep respect for nature and the
environment.
The yields are low (really low) and the
grapes are
carefully scrutinized to eliminate inferior
specimens. The
harvest is by hand, which protects the skins
of the
grapes. This is the absolute key to great
winemaking
- low yields for concentrated fruit and high
selection
so only the best grapes go into the final
blend. All of
these steps
take time and are expensive but they are the
keys to
making great wine.
There are two cuvees at Stella Nova: Les
Pleiades (a Gold Medal Winner in Paris)
and
Sirius. Les
Pleiades is
a more structured wine than Sirius,
perhaps
owing to its Syrah component and selective
use of
small oak barrels. Both Stella Nova wines are quite
serious, and the yields of 25
and 30
hectoliters per hectare are amazing
considering the
price of the wine. Half of Les
Pleiades is raised in barrels and aged for 18
months. The
wine is neither fined nor filtered.
Sirius is
raised 100% in-tank with a very light
filtration. The
Sirius is
undeniably a great wine for its price.
Pleiades is
a serious
wine that can rival far more pedigreed wines.
It will
last for quite a while and will benefit from
aging.
So, go a little wild and think outside the
Bordeaux
and Burgundy box and try a little Languedoc
Roussillon. You'll be amazed. Cynthia
Hurley
