Château Meunier St-Louis
Martine and Philippe Pasquier-Meunier have over 20 years experience behind them to bring out the best of their sizeable 120 ha estate (300 acres). The white varieties are also all 20+ years old, which is probably one factor behind the latent quality of their attractive "Prestige" white wine, grown on "pebbly quartz sandstone terraces," as you do! The reds are at slight altitude as well but on stoney clay-limestone sites, so there. Their top cuvée "Exégèse" is sourced from "the prettiest hills" (someone once said if a vineyard is beautiful, it must be good!) lying in the northernmost tip of the Boutenac appellation zone and selected grapes including their oldest Carignan. I tried these wines over dinner (10th March 2010) with Martine (among other Boutenac and Minervois owner/winemakers) at Le Marie-Jean restaurant in Sète (that link goes to a post on my other blog), and at the Languedoc "en primeur" tastings that week (see link below):
2009 Prestige rosé Corbières (Syrah, Grenache, Carignan) - elegant and very crisp, attractive and versatile style. 83-85
2009 Prestige white (Grenache blanc, Bourboulenc, Marsanne, Rolle = Vermentino) - aromatic banana/pineapple notes with gummy lees-tinged intensity; nice rounded mouth-feel vs light bitter twist, "sweet" fruit vs mineral bite. 87
2005 Exégèse Corbières-Boutenac (Syrah, Grenache, Carignan) - quite oaky, sturdy and extracted with lush spicy fruit vs grainy wood; not sure at first, in the end the fruit comes through more although it's still pretty chunky, firm and tight for an 05. One to try again sometime...
2009 Exégèse (Syrah/Carignan/Grenache) - smoky bacon oak with ripe fruit and wild herb undertones; dry vs rounded tannins with minty finish. Good but far too expensive at €32! 87+ (unfinished sample from my 2009 Languedoc report).
UPDATE: more here (May 2011, Corbières report).
Château Hauterive le Haut
Fabienne and Jean-Marc Reulet's expansive 90 ha (225 acres) of vines spread across four different zones: on the clay-sand soils around Boutenac, clay-limestone Caumont Cayenne hillsides, clay and sandstone around the Boutenac pine-forest and the Hauterive vineyard itself in Gasparets. I tried these wines over dinner (10th March 2010) with the owner/winemaker at Le Marie-Jean restaurant in Sète (that link goes to a post on my blog), and at the Languedoc "en primeur" tastings that week (see below): 2009 Corbières rosé (Cinsault/Syrah/Grenache)- raspberry fruity and quite chunky style with juicy and crisp finish. 85
2007 Corbières-Boutenac (old Carignan/Grenache) - very nice smoky savoury touches vs vibrant cherry and berry fruit, a tad of oak adding rounded texture vs quite concentrated palate. 89+
2009 Averal (50-50 Carignan/Grenache) - perfumed herby aromas, leading on to tobacco tones and blue/black fruits; crunchy vs ripe palate with lively length. €13.50 88+ (unfinished sample included in my 2009 Languedoc report ).
Château Faîteau
The timeless twisty-alleyed village of La Livinière, lying about half an hour north of Lézignan-Corbières, appears to have as many signposts pointing to wine cellars as street names. No bad thing, given the generally high standards being achieved in this Minervois sub-appellation. I first called in at Jean-Michel Arnaud's place on 9th February 2006 for a chat and tasting (see below). Jean-Michel, whose family are former cooperative growers turned independent in 1998, coaxes quite impressive complex reds out of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Carignan in his compact little winery (two or three visitors at once maximum!). The latest release (end of 2008) 2004 vintage La Livinière is a pretty classic example, showing solid weight / tannins and smoky versus ‘sweet’ fruit (read on for more updates). If you want to go and see him, call in advance as he's often out in the vineyards. He also sometimes puts on summer barbeques in conjunction with other growers and takes part in an annual spring event called, unsurprisingly, ‘Printemps du Minervois’ (see website). By the way, other producers of Minervois La Livinière to look out for include Domaine de la Combe Blanche, Domaine Anger, Domaine la Rouviole, Château Cesseras and Sainte-Eulalie.
2003 Minervois (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre & Carignan) - attractive perfumed spicy black cherry with rustic leather notes; plenty of liquorice, black fruits and spice in the mouth with a bit of bite and weight; good for AC Minervois. 85-87
2001 Minervois La Livinière (Syrah, Grenache & Carignan) - liquorice and earth, nice black cherry fruit underlined with choc oak; developing complexity, grip v elegant concentration, length and style; closes up a little on the finish although the sample was very cold. 90+
2002 Minervois La Livinière - not so revealing on the nose, chunky blackberry fruit lies on top of textured oak; concentrated and meaty, firm tight finish with nice lingering depth of fruit. 90+
Update 2009: I bumped into Jean-Michel at the end of 2008, during Les Grands Chemins "Rencontres en Minervois" festival, and tasted the following:
2004 Minervois La Livinière - fairly complex and smoky, also showing light wild herbs v rich dark fruit; solid palate with underlying chocolate oak v 'sweet & sour', liquorice & tobacco on its good length. £9.95 from vineyardsdirect.com 90+
Update 2010: Jean-Michel had his latest vintage with him on the evening of 10th March, when a big group of us ate at Le Marie-Jean restaurant in Sète (that link goes to a mini review), during the marathon week of "en primeur" tastings of 2009 vintage Languedoc wines:
2006 Château Faiteau Minervois La Livinière - quite coconut spicy at the moment but has nice dark fruit and liquorice flavours; punchy palate with pretty grippy tannins although attractive grainy/rounded texture, tight spicy finish. Needs 6 months to open up a bit, promising.
This neat slightly fading 19th-Century château-cum-farmhouse is, as legend has it, named after olive trees planted by Romans (uh oh, Roman alert: so they did ever do something for us then!), which used to cover this picturesque rolling property. It's found to the west of Fontfroide Abbey in Corbières-Boutenac country, a few kilometres northwest of Montséret off the D613 road to Thézan-des-Corbières. Jacqueline Bories has now handed over the reins to son Pierre who, together with Jean-Pierre Amigues are slowly converting the 130 ha (320 acre) estate over to organics.
There are at least 20 ha of Carignan with the youngest vines 50 years old and the most senior dating from 1896 apparently. Their Cuvée Prestige, made from this old Carignan with Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah, exemplifies how attractive, concentrated and well balanced their reds are. Compare it to a €10 wine from elsewhere and feel self-righteous you discovered it here! Other highlights include the barrel-fermented cuvée Prestige white and seductive, oak-free, old Carignan-based Atal Sia (labelled as Boutenac AOC). There are also a couple of holiday gîtes, which might be integrated into a larger conversion of part of the winery buildings into a hotel and resto.
Tasted November-December 2008:
2007 Les Ollieux Corbières white (Marsanne Roussanne 13.5%) - attractive mix of exotic 'fat' fruit and mineral crispness, oily v zingy with nice weight and length. Oddbins (UK). 85+
2007 cuvée prestige white Château Ollieux Romanis (Marsanne Roussanne Grenache blanc 13.5%) - enticing buttery coconut nose, oily juicy textured fruit v spicy oak; lovely depth of fruit and exotic intensity, crisp v toasty finish. Needs a few months to come together fully. 89+
2006 cuvée Alice Ollieux Romanis (Carignan Grenache 13.5%) - fragrant peppery resiny cherry fruit, dry coating v liquorice 'sweetness'; lively spicy finish, nice style. 87+
2006 cuvée Classique Château Ollieux Romanis (Carignan Syrah Grenache 13.5%) - richer and more complex, although similar style tasty fruit; weightier with bigger tannins, closing up a bit on the finish. 89+
2005 cuvée Prestige Château Ollieux Romanis (Carignan Grenache Mourvèdre Syrah 14%) - smoky wilder side on the nose, ripe dark fruits too; concentrated and grippy v that tasty fruit again, more savoury finish bolstered by very firm tannins; well-balanced though with bitter chocolate oak very much in the background, very promising. 92+?
2007 Atal Sia Corbières-Boutenac (majority Carignan plus Grenache Mourvèdre Syrah 14%) - delicious pure perfumed fruit, lush v crunchy, lovely intense 'mineral' notes v dark fruits; fine long palate layered with herby perfumed spicy flavours, attractive rounded tannins adding poise. Later: very intense cassis and blueberry fruit v dense concentrated and grippy texture, tasty intriguing peppery v liquorice finish. 92-94
2006 cuvée OR Ollieux Romanis (Carignan Grenache Mourvèdre Syrah 14%) - lots of toasty dark chocolate oak, concentrated and powerful with extracted tannins; the oak is covering up the fruit a little at the moment but this probably needs 1+ years to open up. 90?
2007 Alicante Ollieux Romanis (14%) - different for sure, rich colour and deep aromas with peppery earthy black cherry/currant, plum and black olive too; quite gutsy, spicy and lush v dry yet soft tannins, attractive with fairly simple finish.85-87
Update March 2010: more info here including note on the fledgling 2009 Atal Sia (goes to Languedoc 09 and 08 vintage reports).
2008 Cuvée prestige white (Grenache blanc Marsanne Roussanne) - quite toasty and grainy, perhaps too much although it did open up with food getting fatter and tastier vs still quite tight and mineral.
2007 Atal Sia Corbières-Boutenac (mostly Carignan + GrenacheMourvèdre Syrah) - a second tasting confirms my note above: delicious nose showing perfumed blue/black fruits; nice "chalky" tannins with rich yet crunchy mouth-feel, herby minty vs savoury flavours on the finish. 92+
More Ollieux Romanis here too ("Top L&R reds over €10" tasting, 2007).
And latest COR here (Corbières-Boutenac report May 2011 featuring 2010 vintage plus 2009 and 2008 revisited...).
Ollieux Romanis, 11200 Montséret. Tel: 04 68 43 35 20, www.chateaulesollieux.com.
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Header image: Château de Flandry, Limoux, Languedoc. Background: Vineyard near Terrats in Les Aspres, Roussillon.
