Happy Nouveau Day everyone!
Whatever your thoughts on the legitimacy of the date (it's hard to pin down a humble harvest festival's origins when it's been eclipsed by the longest-running marketing gimmick of all time) we believe in promoting the notion that properly made primeurs are a joy to drink as intended: in celebration of a year's hard work.
And what a year for Mathilde & Sylvere 2022 was. Snatched from the jaws of defeat when a brutal drought was finally broken right before harvest, we have for the first time in a while received two Primeurs from the pair.
The red-labelled Domaine Nouveau, is from their own fruit farmed to biodynamic principles over sandy granite, and the blue-labelled Negocé Nouveau is using fruit purchased from four neighbouring vineyards: three certified organic and one in it's final year of conversation.
Speaking with Sylvere whilst the wines slowly blipped to the finish line of fermentation, he talked about what a dry vintage they'd had, and how proud he was to have been able to produce wines with more acidity than 2020 or 2018:
"We had to pick unbelievably early this year. The harvest finished on Monday 5th September! The year had begun really nicely, so the fruit got a good start. But the rain dried up in June and we didn't have anything until September."
"That rain was miraculous, it really helped the acidity in the grapes. We definitely saw some hydric stress in the vines between June and August though, and whilst the yields have been good, the grapes were quite a bit smaller."
“But, I’m very happy with how we’ve worked this year. The main wines will have a little more structure and colour, for sure, but they’ll have beautiful potential for ageing. For both Primeurs, we did a very short 5 day carbonic maceration, to keep the colour light, keep things fresh. They’re just finishing fermentation now in tank, nearly there. I’m very happy with them”
Whatever your plans for the day, we hope you enjoy the wines, and raise a glass to Mathilde & Sylvere to thank them for their hard work in achieving such easeful wines.
