Description

Up in the wild, scrubby landscape of the Corbires is one of the most talented young vignerons in France; shy, modest and honest he rents 10 hectares of vines in and around Villeneuve des Corbires at about 300m above sea level and nestled well into the mountains.

He has Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah planted in the schist and limestone soils; some of the vines are more than a hundred years old! For white wine he has Grenache Gris and Grenache Blanc which he blends to produce a single cuvee each year. The respect for the soils is paramount to Maxime and he has a little menagerie of farm animals living with him that he lets loose in the vineyards between November and April to cultivate and help develop the natural environment and microflora. It goes without saying that there are no pesticides or insecticides used at this estate. All grapes are manually harvested in to small crates and taken to a cold room before being whole bunch fermented at ambient temperature by carbonic maceration using only indigenous yeasts. After this the fermentation is allowed to continue in the traditional method in open top casks with daily pigeage. Following the fermentation the wines are all levaged in cement tanks and old barrels before being bottled without fining or filtration. – Importer Note