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| Didier Barral |
Long-time members of the club may remember us including Didier Barral
in a previous offering. Didier’s wines are fabulous, authentic, and unique. One
of the two wines in this month’s selection, the “Jadis,” was the No. 1 panel
pick in a recent NY Times Eric Asimov piece on the wines of the Languedoc.
Didier founded Domaine Leon Barral
in 1993, naming it after his grandfather.
Quickly he decided that biodynamic practices were the best choice for farming
his vineyards, which are located deep in the heart of the Languedoc, in the
Faugères appellation just outside the hamlet of Lenthéric.
Farming thirty hectares of vineyards is no small
feat. Luckily Didier has a little help from his friends: a team of twenty cows,
horses, and pigs, that graze the cover crops in and around the vineyards. The
grazing of his animals naturally cultivates healthy microbiotic activity in the
soil, bringing mushrooms, ants, ladybugs, earthworms, and other essential life
forms, and adding important nutrients while aerating the soil. This is
sustainability at its finest, an ecosystem of interdependence.
The grapes benefit from this environment, which
ultimately translates into tremendously powerful, complex, and age-worthy
wines. Most of Didier’s vines get full southern exposure. In this Mediterranean climate where
summer heat waves and drought happen regularly during the growing season,
Didier prunes them in the gobelet style to shelter the grapes from the blistering sun. Most
of his vines are very old, keeping yields naturally low.
In the cellar, Didier works with the same zeal,
although he would consider the wine all but finished once it leaves the
vineyard. Didier’s type of artisanry, once nearly extinct, has had a profound
influence on other winemakers of a
similar bent, who see how his insane work ethic and ideology translates
into profound results.
All grapes are harvested by hand and then
sorted. In general, the youngest vines are de-stemmed; otherwise whole clusters
are used. No SO2 is added. His wine is vinified in gravity-fed, cement cuves and fermented with their natural
yeasts. Maceration takes place for 3 to 4 weeks with regular, manual
punch-downs in an old wooden vat. After maceration, the grapes are lightly
pressed with an old, wooden, vertical basket press. The Faugères
Rouge is aged for 2 years in cement and stainless steel cuves. The “Jadis,” however, is aged for 24 to 26 months in barrel,
10% of which is new oak. Didier’s wines are never racked, fined or filtered.
2009
Domaine Leon Barral Faugères Rouge
A blend of 50% Carignan, 40% Grenache and 10%
Cinsault from vines that range in age from 40 to 70 years, planted in rugged
schist. This is a vibrant
wine of power, rusticity and yet it also has incredibly fresh, pure fruit. On
the nose, notes of violets, black olives, leather, barnyard; in the mouth, a
generous, delicious earthiness… kirsch, black currant, coffee and tobacco.
2009
Domaine Leon Barral Faugères “Jadis” Rouge
Made of 50% Carignan, 30% Syrah, 20% Grenache from 30 to
60 year old vines planted in schist. Asimov characterizes
this wine as “juicy, earthy and tense with complex aromas of
flowers and purple fruit, and a touch of oak.” Like the straight Faugères, it is indeed
of the earth, but in a deeper register, singing of robust fruit and spicy garrigue.
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| Sylvain Fadat |
We had the pleasure of hosting a Sylvain Fadat
wine dinner at Thirstbar in March. Three generations of Fadats have farmed the
large, eighteen-hectare lieu-dit known as Aupilhac, in the village of
Montpeyroux, across the river Hérault from Daumas Gassac and Grange des Pères.
Aupilhac is a special parcel for many reasons. It sits at a high altitude,
nestled below the ruins of the village’s château, at almost 1200 feet above sea
level on terraced land with southwest sun exposure. The soils are rich in
prehistoric oyster fossils, which lend an incredible length and minerality to
the wines. Sylvain is not one to shy away from hard work. In a volcanic
amphitheatre comprised of marine fossils and raw limestone, called Cocalières,
he has done what few vignerons dare to do nowadays: he’s planted a
vineyard on steep, extremely rocky terrain, and terraced the land himself. This
is not only an enormous financial investment, but back-breaking work. This was
the work done many centuries ago by the founders of France’s great terroirs
such as Savennières and Cornas, planting the best and most promising parcels
irrespective of time and money.
Sylvain has also elected to have his fruit
certified as organic in Europe, a mandatory three-year conversion process. For
him, this is a choice both of conscience and pragmatism. He works the
soil vigorously by plowing regularly. This forces the roots to dig deeper and
deeper in the soil in search of cooler, humid subsoil, which protects the vines
from drought and sun. Ultimately, his rationale centers on helping achieve a
natural balance. In his words, “We believe that work in the vineyards has far
more influence on a wine's quality than what we do in the cellar.”
2011 Domaine d’Aupilhac Vin de
Pays de l’Hérault “Les Servières” Rouge
Made from 100% Cinsault planted over
a century ago in 1900 co-produced by Sylvain Fadat of Domaine d’Aupilac and his
neighbor and childhood friend Alain Robert. The vines are located behind
Robert’s house, 10 kms outside of Montpeyroux. When Robert told Sylvain that he
was finally going to tear out his century-old Cinsault vines in order to plant
olive groves, he was aghast. However he was easily able to convince his buddy
not to pull out the vines and to plant his olive groves elsewhere, and to allow
him to care for them (hence the olive tree on the front of the label).
“Les Servières” comes from the name
of the wild lynx that is now extinct in the area but used to roam in the local
forests. It is produced from organic grapes and only indigenous yeasts are
used. The vines enjoy southeast exposure on hillside terraces and are planted
in marl and clay-limestone. The grapes are hand-harvested; they macerate
for 20 days on the lees. The wine is aged for 9 months in barrel and is bottled
unfiltered.
This wine is such a treat! We are
lucky to have gotten a tiny amount to share with you. Although it’s made from
grapes that matured on very old vines, it is fresh and aromatic, and reminds us
a little bit of a red Burgundy, with notes of sharp red fruits.
All of these wines
are worthy of cellaring, especially the “Jadis.” If you haven’t patience, or a
cellar, however, we recommend decanting them for an hour or two before serving and serving them at cellar
temperature. For Sylvain’s wine, a
nice pairing would be chicken roasted with herbs. For the Barral wines, pair them
with something equally flavorful, earthy, and honest, like a lamb stew or
rib-eye steak.
If these wines pique your interest, click here to sign up for our club at the $25, $50, or $100 level and we'll get you started.
