Domaine Marquise des Mûres
The village of
Roquebrun gives its name to one of the crus of St. Chinian, but as I found on a
day spent in the village visiting four of the vignerons independents, no one
apart from the coop seems to mention Roquebrun on their labels! And they make some delicious wine.
It was harvest time,
but Nelly Belot who runs the syndicat of St. Chinian had managed to organise some
appointments for us. First stop was Domaine Marquise des Mûres, with Jean-Jacques
Mailhac. We arrived just as he was finishing running off a vat, and was able to
take a break from the grape juice.
First question: why Marquise des Mûres, which elicited a story. Par provocation, he said. His father was president of the coop of
Roquebrun in the 1980s, but Jean-Jacques preferred to take his vineyards out of
the coop. He laughingly observed that
the moment someone has a small shed in the vines, they immediately call it a château,
even if it is no more than a hut. And
the real aristocracy of the region used to be the shepherds, who used to bring
their sheep, and goats to tidy up the vegetation on the edge of the vineyards,
including all the brambles, which produced blackberries. And he had known the daughter of the last
shepherd of the village, and leads to Marquise des Mûres, the marchioness of
the blackberries!
Jean-Jacques’s first
vintage was 1992; he sold 1990 and 1991 to the négoce, but that was not what he
had left the coop for. He now has 15
hectares of vines, all in Roquebrun, planted with the usual red varieties, but
not Mourvèdre as it is too temperamental, and for white he has Sauvignon Blanc, as
well as Viognier, Vermentino and Roussanne.
He is self-taught or has learnt from his father and his oenologists,
first Jean Natoli, and now François Pennequin.
Essentially his vineyards are in three large plots – it is difficult
being organic if you have neighbours, so he has conducted a policy of
restructuration. And asked about the tipicity
of Roquebrun, he replied that St Chinian is complicated, there is schist and limestone. The best soil is quite deep, but poor – the
same vein of schist runs towards Berlou, but the depth of the soil varies. The
real tipicity comes from a terroir sans produits chimiques.
At the beginning of
September he was optimistic about the harvest, ‘provided it doesn’t rain’. And it didn't, too much. The north wind and the cool nights are
good. He began on 24th August
with Sauvignon, then rosé, and started reds on 7th September.
And then we tasted in
his rather smart tasting room at the entrance to the village
2014 Nasaara, Vin de
France – 7.10€
What the name
mean? Another story. He visited Burkina Faso with a friend in
2007, who was working on a charitable project with schools in the country –and
he noticed people kept saying Nasaara, which simply means white. Hence the name, and he has given a percentage
of his profits to the project. As for
the wine which is a blend of Sauvignon, Roussanne and a little Viognier, it has
quite a rich honeyed nose, with a touch of peachy fruit from the Viognier and
an appealing textured palate, with some fruit and acidity. And a slightly bitter touch on the finish. The vineyard of Sauvignon is by the river and
the land is not in the appellation,.
2013 Les Filles de la Guinguette, Vin de France
– 5.00€
A blend of Cinsaut,
Carignan and Marselan. Another story, about enlisting the help of friends for a
tasting to decide on the blend for a refreshing easy to drink red wine. All the girls liked the same wine, and their names
are on the label. And the wine is indeed
eminently drinking with red fruit and supple tannins. Serve it slightly
chilled.
2013 Lou Carignan, Vin
de France – 7.10€
His natural wine, so
no sulphur in the wine, but maybe some in the vineyard if there are problems
with oidium. He starts the fermentation
by carbonic maceration and then destems the grapes and finishes the
fermentation. And from just one
vineyard, a hectare of 50 year old vines.
Fresh cherry fruit, with rounded fruit on the palate, with a fresh
streak of tannin and a mineral note. Medium
weight.
2011 Métis, St Chinian
– 7.10€
A marriage of four
grape varieties, Cinsaut, Grenache, Carignan and Syrah and
two terroirs, schist and gravel – hence a métis. No fining or filtering and just a little S02
and a minimum of two winters, if not three in vat. but no wood. The cool cellar encourages the wine to
deposit naturally. Quite a powerful
spicy nose and on the palate. Some notes
of orange and red fruit, supple tannins, acidity and spice. Quite harmonious.
2010 les Sagnes, St.
Chinian. – 10.40€
Sagness is a lieu-dit. Asked
about Roquebrun ; Jean-Jacques doesn’t bother with it. 'C’est fou
ça; it’s for the shelf stickers in the supermarkets. There’s no difference between Roquebrun and
Berlou. It’s all the same soil'. So a
blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan.
25% aged in wood, but two or three years old. Medium colour. Quite a firm nose with a hint of oak; a more
structured palate, but with appealing red fruit and spice. Quite an elegant finish.
2009 Réserves des
Marquises, St. Chinian – 19.90€
It is for this wine
that Jean-Jacques buys the two new demi-muids each year, making one barrel of
Syrah and one of Grenache and Carignan. They
are given a week of carbonic maceration and then destemmed and put into the
barrels, without their tops, so that the grapes can be punched down or (pigé
). Once they are pressed, the tops are
put on the barrels, and the barrels are filled, and the wine is given two years
élevage, and then blended and then spends another one or two years in vat.
Ideally the wine
should be opened in advance. Deep
colour. Firms structured nose, with some
ripe fruit and good tannins on the palate.
Rich but balanced. The
vinification in wood helps to soften the wine.
And we finished with
the rosé, as Jean-Jacques had forgotten about it earlier in our tasting:
2014 Métis rosé –
7.10€
Based on Cinsaut
(pressed) with some Syrah(saigné) and he
is giving up using Grenache as it makes the colour turn orange. Ripe and rounded, with some raspberry
notes. Jean-Jacques observed that rose
is ‘the most complicated’ wine to make.
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