Claude and Dominique Ortal's extensive 60 hectare (150 acre) estate lies tucked away in the open rolling countryside between the villages of Trouillas and Pollestres (south of Perpignan), not far from Château La Casenove. The initial, slightly alarming 'alterations' to the landscape, caused by nearby work on the new Perpignan to Barcelona TGV line, have now grown back and settled in while providing Saint Georges with a new road, signpost and large roundabout to conveniently slow people down so they notice it!
Saint Georges makes quite a big range of different local styles - including rosé, vins de pays varietals, traditional fortified Muscat and Rivesaltes - out of which their cru red Les Aspres cuvée is a real highlight (see below), which they don't make very much of. This Roussillon sub-appellation has its critics and supporters (click here and scroll down to "Straining at the Leash...", or browse through other estates in this area on these Roussillon pages for more on that): the Ortals are vociferously in the latter camp and it shows in their wines. I talked to and tasted with Claude at this year's Vinisud wine show (Montpellier, Feb. 2008), this is what he said: "We talked about it (Les Aspres) and did research for ten years parcel by parcel. Renou (the former head of France's AOC regulatory watchdog who sadly died a couple of years ago) thought it was the only AOC that fitted his new ideas on appellations. Things might change as we'd felt left out of the whole cru thing. It's a shame some aren't supporting it."
2003 Cuvée de Pierre Côtes du Roussillon Les Aspres (2/3 Syrah 1/3 Grenache) - attractive mix of rustic and inky fruit v lush and vibrant flavours; nice grip of textured tannins layered with maturing fruit richness. 89+
2005 Cuvée de Pierre Côtes du Roussillon Les Aspres (2/3 Syrah 1/3 Grenache) - richer and riper fruit than the 03, less smoky and developed too with more minty spicy characters; very nice wine, shows promise. 90+
Les Caves de Sieur d'Arques
One of the biggest and most enterprising co-op cellars in the Languedoc (for example, they supply the wine for Gallo's hit US brand called Red Bicyclette, although they did allegedly get their fingers burnt over a certain "Pinot Noir" cum Merlot wine!), who produce very nice examples despite the substantial volume of the whole variety of Limoux styles. Recommended sparkling wines include their Bulle de Blanquette Brut, aged in bottle on the yeast lees for 24 months, and stylish Crémant de Limoux rosé (see tasting notes below, sampled at Vinisud Montpellier February 2008). They also do guided tours around their enormous factory-like winery and show a touristy film, which is nevertheless interesting to see how the local fizz is produced on a large scale compared to the family-run estates featured in this guide. See below under Domaine Fourn for a bit of blurb on the production of the different Limoux sparklings. Caves Sieur's still Limoux wines come from four separate vineyard areas and are also worth a taste: the best ones are arguably from La Haute Vallée, higher altitude plantings that help express more finesse perhaps.
Bulle de Blanquette Brut (Mauzac Chenin Chardy 12.5% alc, 24 months lees ageing) - elegant toasty/yeasty aromas, quite rich honeyed mouth-feel with crisp backdrop and a bit of class too. 89-91
2005 Crémant de Limoux Brut (15 months ageing) - finer in a way and more floral, less textured though with light honeyed fruit then subtle refreshing finish. 87-89
Bulle de Crémant rosé (same plus a bit of Pinot Noir) - touches of red fruits with toasted-bready undercurrents, nice mouth-feel with crisp intense length. 89+
Méthode Ancestrale tradition (100% Mauzac 6.5%) - quite sweet yet refreshing with oily developing fruit, a bit odd although nice. 85+
UPDATE: latest Sd'A wines and vintages are here (Limoux report, April 2011).
Avenue de Carcassonne, 11303 Limoux. Tel: 04 68 74 63 00, www.sieurdarques.com.
A winemaking consultancy team called Natolix headed up by Jean Natoli, who created the well-regarded www.oenoconseil.fr, had a stand at this year's Vinisud wine show in Montpellier, where they lined up a wide selection of their clients' wines on tasting. They work with some of the leading estates in the Languedoc, and I've picked one of my favourites below with a bit of info about this equally well-known estate winery. It may or may not be worth adding that I found a few others, which didn't exactly set the world alight or were a bit heavy-handed on the winemaking front with some of the wines swamped in chocolatey new oak. And one particular white was corked but already sampled, rather inexcusable considering the stand was full of highly qualified winemakers who should have checked every bottled opened...Anyway, enough of the cheeky telling-off, here's one of their seductive reds from Domaine Stella Nova plus a bit of blurb about them:
Philippe Richy is yet another refugee Paris businessman who packed his bags and headed south, learned about vines and wine and in 2002 purchased vineyards near Caux, in the new Pézenas subzone. He's also converting the estate over to biodynamic farming methods, man.
2004 Les Pléiades rouge Coteaux du Languedoc (Syrah Grenache Mourvèdre) - very lush and extracted but it has lovely ripe resiny fruit on top of those BIG tannins and powerful finish. €13.50 90
546 Route d’Usclas, 34230 Paulhan. Tel: 04.67.00.10.76, www.stellanova.fr.
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Header image: Château de Flandry, Limoux, Languedoc. Background: Vineyard near Terrats in Les Aspres, Roussillon.
