I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: Pic Saint Loup is perhaps the most underrated and undervalued appellation in all of France. Just as the Pic itself dramatically rises above the Languedocien landscape, its sheer façades culminating in a majestic limestone summit, the wines here benefit from an exceptional terroir that allows them to tower over the region’s sea of vin ordinaire.
            The three Ravaille brothers who make up Ermitage du Pic Saint Loup—Pierre, Jean-Marc, and Xavier—have gone to great lengths to reap the full potential from these stone-ridden slopes. Their conversion to biodynamics proved crucial, allowing for living soils better able to resist heat and drought, ultimately resulting in purer wines with lower alcohol and greater aromatic finesse. Farming some of the best vineyards in the appellation—cool, high-elevation sites littered with calcareous rubble—certainly doesn’t hurt, either.
            Their Cuvée Sainte Agnès demonstrates the potential for wines of uncommon elegance in the Languedoc’s most temperate appellation. Syrah planted here shows a kinship with the northern Rhône, echoing aromas of black olive and violets found in bottles from Clape and Allemand the Ravailles fondly hold in their impressive personal cellar. Grenache and Mourvèdre fill out the blend to provide an appropriate Mediterranean soulfulness, but this bottling is more about restraint and perfume than bombastic fruit. Savory and floral, with bright accents of orange zest, it soars over the palate with grace and finishes with a freshness reminiscent of cool stone.
            If a stunning 1999 opened at the domaine recently is any indication, the best wines from this appellation can go the distance and stand toe to toe with southern France’s finest reds. The Ravaille brothers’ Sainte Agnès is proof that it is time to start paying attention to Pic Saint Loup.