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2021 Corbières Rouge
Domaine de FontsainteYou can count on just two hands the growers we’ve worked with for four decades or more. Joining such families as the Peyrauds (Domaine Tempier) and the Bruniers (Vieux Télégraphe) in that company are the Laboucariés, who, for years, have crafted ethereal and delicious rosés and soulful, terroir-driven reds in the Corbières appellation halfway between Montpellier and the Spanish border. For this perennially over-delivering cuvée, Bruno Laboucarié blends two parts Carignan with one part Grenache and a splash of Syrah to produce a vibrant country red reminiscent of black cherries and spice.
—Tom Wolf
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 60% Carignan, 30% Grenache Noir, 10% Syrah |
Appellation: | Corbières |
Country: | France |
Region: | Languedoc-Roussillon |
Producer: | Domaine de Fontsainte |
Winemaker: | Bruno Laboucarié |
Vineyard: | Carignan vines planted in 1950, Grenache in 1986, Syrah in 1991, 46.2 ha |
Soil: | Silica, clay, limestone (gravelly with large galets, or rounded stones) |
Aging: | 60% of wine ages 8-12 months in French oak barrels, remainder in cement tank |
Farming: | Lutte Raisonnée |
Alcohol: | 14.5% |
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About The Producer
Domaine de Fontsainte
About The Region
Languedoc-Roussillon
Ask wine drinkers around the world, and the word “Languedoc” is sure to elicit mixed reactions. On the one hand, the region is still strongly tied to its past as a producer of cheap, insipid bulk wine in the eyes of many consumers. On the other hand, it is the source of countless great values providing affordable everyday pleasure, with an increasing number of higher-end wines capable of rivaling the best from other parts of France.
While there’s no denying the Languedoc’s checkered history, the last two decades have seen a noticeable shift to fine wine, with an emphasis on terroir. Ambitious growers have sought out vineyard sites with poor, well draining soils in hilly zones, curbed back on irrigation and the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and looked to balance traditional production methods with technological advancements to craft wines with elegance, balance, and a clear sense of place. Today, the overall quality and variety of wines being made in the Languedoc is as high as ever.
Shaped like a crescent hugging the Mediterranean coast, the region boasts an enormous variety of soil types and microclimates depending on elevation, exposition, and relative distance from the coastline and the cooler foothills farther inland. While the warm Mediterranean climate is conducive to the production of reds, there are world-class whites and rosés to be found as well, along with stunning dessert wines revered by connoisseurs for centuries.
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Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch