Perfect for the season, we've just received the new vintages from Celine & Alexandre at Domaine Balansa, who make wonderfully precise, elegant wines from their patchwork of old vines over soft brown schist in the Hautes Corbières.
In Fitou, home to some of the oldest vines in France, Celine & Alexandre farm 14 hectares biodynamically, on parcels up to 400m above sea level, vines that have been in Celine's family for several generations. Until she returned home in 2013, the Peyre family sold their fruit to the local winemaking co-op. Celine had vision for these old vines though, and the pair have been doing vinification themselves since.
Each wine is a unique snapshot of a single vineyard, the whole collection painting a picture of Celine & Alex's surface in the hills. The wines share a through-line as each parcel is picked, the fermenting must of one cuvee acting as a levain for the next. Picked in order, Aragon sparks Coume de Malies, which in turn sparks Peche de Rozies and on it goes.
Work in the cellar is gentle and precise, wines are aged simply in a combination of vessels, from concrete tanks, to old barrels and bespoke terracotta amphora, sulphur use is kept to an absolute minimum at bottling, nothing is filtered or fined.
Given the name, Celine & Alex are always aiming for balance, trying to produce wines of substance whilst retaining tension and freshness, hoping to reflect the extremes their old vines have battled over the last 100 years in the hills.
Available now are their gastronomic, generous whites and roses from the 2022 vintage: great balance achieved despite a very dry year - and the supple, lifted reds of 2021, a rare cool, wet vintage lending acidity and brighter toned fruit.
AVAILABLE NOW
WHITE
2022 - Aragon - Muscat Petits Grains
From a steep, hilly parcel of Muscat on schist and limestone. Two days as whole-bunches in the cold room, before pressing to stainless steel for fermentation. 6 months ageing in amphora. Unfined and unfiltered.
Beautifully measured aromatics, stone-fruit and rose over wet stone, linear and mineral with a salty acidity, elegant and long.
2022 - Coume de Maliès - Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Vermentino, Carignan Blanc, Carignan Gris
From a 250m elevated co-planted parcel on schist, limestone and a little clay. Three days as whole-bunches in the cold room, fermented in stainless steel, aged 6 months in concrete. Unfined and unfiltered.
The 2022 has a real generoisty of spirit whilst retaining great freshness at the finish, liquid tarte tatin here with salt & acid for good measure, very gastronomic, a truly Autumnal white.
ROSE
2022 - Pech de roziès - Grenache Noir, Syrah
Named for the vineyards location beneath the Pech de Roziès mountain, with bat boxes recently installed, pressed directly after two days in the cold room, fermented in stainless steel. 4/5ths aged in tank, with 1/6th in demi-muid, both for 6 months.
Serious rosé that will be great with food, strawberry and watermelon bolstered by a mineral core, finishing long, generous and open.
RED
2022 - La Vinhota - LLedoner Pelut, Grenache Noir
From the highest vineyard at 400m over pure schist with very little top-soil, with one day in the cold room, five days carbonic maceration, aged for 6 months with half in tank and half in barrel.
The lighter, brighter red, vibrant and on the fruit in 2022, pithy citrus aromatics, plenty of blood orange and pomegranate, lift of acidity and snappy, brittle tannins.
2021 - Bel Soula - Carignan, Grenache Noir, Syrah
Another parcel over soft brown schist at 400m elevation, Bel Soula has a 10 day carbonic maceration, and six months in concrete before bottling.
Vibrant and fresh in 2021, with sour cherry and little tart berries, mineral core and a pleasing cacao-nib bitterness.
2021 - Can del Rey - Carignan, Grenache Noir, Syrah
From an incredibly steep vineyard on loose, flaky schist at 300m, comprising a centenarian co-planting of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. Carignan and Grenache have a 17-day carbonic maceration, whilst the Syrah (just 10% of the blend) is de-stemmed and macerated separately. Aged for a year in barrels, before blending and bottling.
2021 - Versicolore - Carignan
From the oldest parcel of 120 year old Carignan over clay-limestone at 280m. Like many of the parcels, vines planted by Celine's great-grandfather. The 2021 had a 15-day carbonic maceration, before a year ageing in old barrels.
Elegant, unwinding and supple, the 2021 has a lovely sense of tension, deep fruited but fresh with fine-grained tannins, beautiful example of the nature of Carignan's duality.
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All portraits of Celine & Alex by Bryan McComb, 2022
