Clos du Rouge Gorge "Jeunes Vignes" Languedoc-Roussillon, France 2023

FROM CAMILLE RIVIERE:

THE WINE: Manual harvesting and destemming. Spontaneous fermentation in large open vessels ("foudre"), as well as a light foot stomping, resulting in a passive infusion. Ten months aging in used barriques before bottling.

THE PRODUCER: The wines of the Clos du Rouge Gorge are elegant, balanced and full of character & among the finest in the Roussillon. Cyril Fhal came to the Roussillon from the Loire Valley in 2002 and found small parcels of north-facing hillside vineyards on gneiss, around the village of Latour-de-France, about 20 miles north-west of Perpignan, with the soil, exposure and altitude of the vines giving freshness and minerality to the wines. The vines have been tended in biodynamic farming from the beginning, with light plowing by hand, horse or rototiller. Natural composts and biodynamic treatments have revitalized the soil, and plants and flowers among the vines bring beneficial insects and a diverse fauna - the mountainside vineyards have a magical quality and seem to blend in with the surrounding sparse vegetation. Cyril rejected the AOC regulations of the Roussillon, which require 30% Syrah or Mourvedre, not indigenous to the region, "which by their excess of maturity and lack of acidity in this climat, result in fat and heavy wines,". The local Macabeo for the white is the most apt, according to Cyril, at expressing the mineral character of the soil 'with a certain transparency.`` Yields at Clos Rouge Gorge are normally 10 to 20 hl/ha, harvesting is by hand into small baskets, light crushing by foot is followed by slow fermentations (traditional, not carbonic maceration) with no extraction, alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation in barrel. These are wines of great purity and finesse that combine delicacy and power.