Monday was a little tasting trip of Côtes de Gascogne wines, visiting Michel, our friend and winemaker based in Ayguetinte!
The estate is located in the heart of Ténarèze, and the vineyard is spread between two valleys on the Entras site and the historic Bordeneuve site. This allows the estate to benefit from an East-facing orientation on one side and a West-facing orientation on the other, depending on the cuvées and ripeness sought. The landscapes are superb, a succession of valleys and a palette of different greens. It makes you want to stay there for a few days' holiday, in short...!
Michel, an agronomist and oenologist by training, traveled and worked extensively in France and abroad, before feeling the desire to return home. He came back to the family estate in 2011 with the desire to add his personal touch! There was one condition, and not an insignificant one: at least one plot had to be planted organically... which very quickly became a philosophy extended to the entire vineyard. Today, around thirty hectares of vines and almost as much agricultural land are cultivated organically. The seed plots, worked in crop associations, adjoin the vineyard plots.
🍷 A little tasting of the juices currently aging in foudres and the bottled range available for sale at the cellar! ⬇️
Colina Oeste is a plot located on a hill facing west, which gives its Gascon name to the Cuvée. The plot is a co-plantation of Merlot, Tannat, and Cot, harvested and vinified together. However, for the last vintage, Michel has desires for novelty...! A great lover of fresh and mineral wines, like a nice Gamay in Beaujolais, he tried a lasagna-style vinification (of grape varieties, not tomato sauce!) in a tank. At the end and at the top of the tank: the Tannat! In the foudres, indeed it's juicy and ripe, a lovely dark fruit, some tannins that will still soften during aging, and also and always a salivating finish with freshness. Nearby, some wines aged in beautiful amphorae... the Jajarre cuvée is a delight of black fruits, slightly silkier tannins, and a long, salivating finish!
A small surprise, a jar a little blacker than the others catches my curiosity: an experiment with barely fermented and muted juice, a real gourmet treat, both very complex and long on the palate. The blackened rough surface of the jar is actually sugar that has crystallized!
In the Flocs cellar, which smells good, the foudres are old and reused for several years. They benefit from a long aging process that mellows the wine. His Flocs de Gascogne are both a cocktail of fresh fruit and also complexity and velvety on the palate. Their profiles allow them to be served both as an aperitif and with food and wine pairings.
The beautiful cuvée Lo Cèu, on the other hand, has a rather mineral profile. Fruity on the nose, with delicate notes of fresh apricot and candied lemon, the wine on the palate tantalizes with a lively attack, roundness and fruit dancing together, and a long saline finish.
All the cuvées are vinified without sulfites, (with indigenous yeasts, of course), and knowing the rigor and precision of Miquèu El Maestro's work, it's not surprising that they taste so good...! So, natural wines to discover!
It was a magnificent day under a scorching sun ☀️ where the wines tasted super super good! A real treat! Thank you Miquèu for your welcome!!
