Every time I'm knocked about by the Mistral, the powerful wind of Provence and the Rhone, I remember that I forgot its intensity. While that wind blowhards the bean pole-like vines of syrah, it doesn't hold a candle to what whips around Languedoc's St. Chinian, in the hills where Jean Marie Rimbert grows his vines.
That and the cold? And people think growing grapes there is easy? Yes, that wind can keep the vines relatively bug free, but try to imagine being belted around by it while you're out there in the sun, heat and the cold, as it was when I was there and my feet were melted/frozen to the ground.
Because of the wind, the round-headed vines are cropped close to the ground, so you get to break your back while you're fussing over the sweet hearts.
Jean Marie has been doing this since 1996. His winery is in a collection of little buildings in the teensie town of Berlou.
The wine is a Jenny & Francois. Do I like them? Oh yes indeed. What are they like? You know, that vin naturel stuff, delicate yet fierce at the same time. the 2006 Le MAs is cedar licorice choco and cocoa, with profound cassis.
2007 Traverse, a lovely sharp confection a quaffable animal with velvet corduroy, with floating fruits, and tannin-like dusty plums.
The wine that grabbed me, though, was a barrel sample of 100% carignane.
Made with no overt temperature control, never new oak, low yields, you get the drift.
Every time I'm knocked about by the Mistral, the powerful wind of Provence and the Rhone, I remember that I forgot its intensity. While that wind blowhards the bean pole-like vines of syrah, it doesn't hold a candle to what whips around Languedoc's St. Chinian, in the hills where Jean Marie Rimbert grows his vines.
That and the cold? And people think growing grapes there is easy? Yes, that wind can keep the vines relatively bug free, but try to imagine being belted around by it while you're out there in the sun, heat and the cold, as it was when I was there and my feet were melted/frozen to the ground.
Because of the wind, the round-headed vines are cropped close to the ground, so you get to break your back while you're fussing over the sweet hearts.
Jean Marie has been doing this since 1996. His winery is in a collection of little buildings in the teensie town of Berlou.
The wine is a Jenny & Francois. Do I like them? Oh yes indeed. What are they like? You know, that vin naturel stuff, delicate yet fierce at the same time. the 2006 Le MAs is cedar licorice choco and cocoa, with profound cassis.
2007 Traverse, a lovely sharp confection a quaffable animal with velvet corduroy, with floating fruits, and tannin-like dusty plums.
The wine that grabbed me, though, was a barrel sample of 100% carignane.
Made with no overt temperature control, never new oak, low yields, you get the drift.
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