New Arrivals from Marine Leys

Vignereuse - Marine Leys
France, Gaillac, Andillac

Each year, ever-hotter summers in Gaillac require Marine Leys to begin her harvest earlier and earlier. Despite rising temperatures, Marine continues to maintain a real freshness in her wines, which she credits to her soils, heavier with limestone than others in the area.

She doesn’t over extract, winemaking is gentle and considered, and whilst the limestone soils certainly give the wines their mineral backbone, there’s much to be credited to Marine’s hard work & care in the cave.

Marine farms her 5 hectares organically. Planted mostly with local varieties: Mauzac, Loin de l’Oeil, Braucol, Duras, along with a little Syrah and Gamay, situated on the south east facing slopes of the Cordais plateau in Andillac.

Having made the transition from marine photography to wine whilst living in Turkey, she then studied formally in Beaune, before working with the Plageoles family in Gaillac for three years, which she likes to joke was her ‘finishing school’.

We’ve just received a top-up of Marine’s 2019 pet-nats, a little more of her blend CroiZade, along with new vintages of A la Santé des Mécréants and her 2020 Primeur. The wines have had no sulphur added since 2018.

We caught up with Marine as she was out pruning her vines in the Gaillac sunshine last week, cautiously optimistic at the thought of getting to see some friends at wine fairs in May, the steady snip of her secateurs a calming soundtrack to our conversation.

Afternoon Marine! How are you?
I’m good thank you! Just in the vineyard, it’s a lovely day. Good to be outside!

We’ve got a few bits landing from 3 different vintages, 18, 19, and 20- how were they for you?

2018 was a good year for us here, we had water at the right time, it was that perfect balance of water & sun, we picked early as the phenolic maturity was looking good. 2019 was hot, but not as hot as last year!

In 2019 we had water at the right time as well, so it didn't block maturity, nothing burned- so it was good timing. Still we harvested earlier again- every year we keep harvesting a tiny bit earlier. This year was really early, we picked in August!

We used to pick at the end of September... it's changing so much. Hopefully this year it won't be that early but they keep announcing really hot summers. It's quite shocking.

Your wines still have real freshness, how are you retaining that?

I'm up on a hill, 250m above sea level, which is not that high, but it's pretty high for around here. I actually have more sun than if I was lower, and it does get a lot hotter, it's harder. However, my soils are calcaire- limestone, whereas down the slopes they're heavier in argilo- clay, their wines are rounder. Limestone brings a lot of salinity, and keeps things very fresh and mineral.

Even in the really hot summers, when the alcohol gets high, they still have the freshness. I don't like to do a lot of extraction, I like the wines to be able to live in the fridge without destroying the tannin and being unpleasant to drink. 

2020 was so hot. I had to add a little white to my rosé this year, even though it was pressed directly, it was still red! But I don't want to have to do that with my reds, I like them as single varieties- with the exception of CroiZade. I use the two varieties, and the ratio of the blend can change so if I have more Syrah or more Duras, I can make a big batch of it.

Can you tell us a little about the new vintages we’re receiving?

A la Santé des Mécréants - 2018

For the '18, we picked pretty early, so it's quite fresh compared to the '17. 
Mécréants is from a 60 year old parcel of Duras, I've been saying it's 55 years old for 5 years so... it must be 60 years old now! We picked by hand, as always. It was destemmed and had an 8 day maceration. I don’t want too much extraction, but I had to bring a bit more oxygen as the fermentation was a bit slower at the start. I did a little remontage at the beginning, and we didn't run into any trouble.

Le Primeur Mais Ne Se Rend Pas - 2020

This year it was really easy! Last year it was so stressful doing the Primeur- it didn't ferment as quickly, I didn't even think it was going to be ready on time. This year I picked early and it finished early, so I had 3 weeks to keep it cool, at 5 degrees, which allowed it to clear and rest properly.

We harvested on the 20th August. It was really hot already.  It's a carbonic maceration, but I wanted to have a dry carbo so I drained off the free run juice everyday. With the weight of the grapes, the ones at the bottom are getting mashed a bit, and I didn't want the yeasts to start working yet, so we drain off their juice.

To start the gas we need for carbo, once the tank is full of grapes I pour in a few buckets of my pied du cuve*, for 2-3 hours with the tank closed. Because it's already fermenting, it creates enough CO2 to push out the oxygen, then I can drain off the pied du cuve and let the carbonic begin, just as total solids, no liquid.

I wanted to have a dry carbo so I drained off the free run juice everyday. With the weight of the grapes, the ones at the bottom are getting mashed a bit, and I didn't want the yeasts to start working yet, so we drain off that juice. This way at the beginning it's just the enzymes within the grape are breaking down into alcohol, which brings that specific taste of carbonic, rather than the yeasts converting sugars to alcohol. So it's a true Beaujolais style carbo.

Have you got any new projects on the go this year?

I'm doing two new bubbles from the 2020 vintage, we’ll have a white and a new red, from the Duras. I started a Vin de Voile in 2019 and it’s going well. It’s made from Mauzac, using the same principles as a vin voile from the Jura, but totally different because this variety of ours has such low acidity compared to Jura varieties, so it's much rounder, it's really interesting. So hopefully in 2026/27 that will be ready to go!

Now In Stock

Sparkling

2019 - Broco Lee - Braucol
2019 - Mayga Watt - Gamay

Red

2018 - CroiZade - Syrah, Duras
NEW 2019 - A La Santé Des Mécréants - Duras
NEW 2020 - Le Primeur Mais Ne Se Rend Pas - Gamay

For wholesale price lists please email hello@winesutb.com

Our Rhône Again (Naturally)

La Roche Buissiere

France, Southern Rhône, Vaison-la-Romaine

Located northeast of Vaison-La-Romaine in the southern Côtes du Rhône, Antoine Joly and his wife Laurence work 18 hectares of organic vineyards planted with Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault. They maintain a freshness and lightness in their wines by dedicating themselves to very intense vineyard work that allows to harvest earlier, resulting in less concentrated wines. They hand-harvest, don’t use synthetic yeasts, and don’t fine or filter.


Their new 2019 vintages just landed - as well as a refill of the 2018 Petit Jo! We've had a chat:

"After an awful year 2018 where we have lost big amounts to mildew, 2019 was better, but we did struggle with a long heat wave of four months without a single drop of rain. As a result of that we have harvested very early and very fast. We've had a total of 25 staff and have finished in 11 days. 

"The 2019 Rosé is a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Cinsault from 15-20 year old vines grown on clay-limestone and silt. We've used whole grapes, which were pressed straight away and then went directly into tanks. The fermentation took place for 15 days. The idea was to create a light and easy drinking rosé. 

"The 2019 Premices is made of 90% Grenache and 10% Cinsault. We have added Cinsault  this time in order to bring more freshness. As usual, it was the first cuvée we have released this year, as it was the first one to be harvested. For this cuvée we usually do very short macerations, which helps achieve a light colour and fresh juice. The maceration took place four days in total. After 72 hours, we started to take the juice out of the tank, one hectolitre per day, while leaving the whole grapes inside to keep fermenting further. Like this we had constant fresh juice being created. We have been doing this for four days in total until all the juice was out. 
The fermentation was also very short: 12 days - which we call 'rosé style'. 

"Both of these cuvées are fresh and easy wines, perfect for summer and are best served cold.

"The 2018 Petit Jo is made from a blend of 50% Syrah - 50% Grenache on a clay-limestone terroir (with a very varied texture: marl, sand or silt) situated between 300 and 450 metres above sea level. It's a wine perfect for sharing with friends and family: easy-drinking with notes of red fruits and spices.

"All three cuvées are aged in tanks, are unfined and unfiltered, and had a total of 10 mg/l of sulfites added at bottling.

"So far this year is looking good for us, we haven't had any frost or mildew this year. We are hoping for a comeback of our Petite Jeanne cuvée, named after our daughter, which we weren't able to make for the last two years due to grape shortages."

Now in Stock

ROSÉ

NEW 2019 (VDF) Rosé - Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault


RED

NEW 2019 (Côtes du Rhône) Premices  - Grenache, Cinsault

2018 (VDF) Petit Jo - Grenache, Syrah

WHOLESALE ONLY

FOR PRICE LIST ENQUIRIES, EMAIL hello@winesutb.com 

A Chat with La Roche Buissiere

La Roche Buissiere
Vaison-la-Romaine, Southern Rhône, France

After deciding that studying city water waste management wasn’t for him, Antoine took over from his dad Pierre in 1998. Shortly joined by his wife Laurence, they began vinifying and bottling their own wine. 

Organic since the 1970’s Pierre had used to sell his grapes to the local co-op.

Vineyards are  planted with Grenache and Syrah. Very intense vineyard work allows for early harvest, resulting in less-concentrated and lower-alcohol wines.

They hand-harvest, don’t use synthetic yeasts, and don’t fine or filter.

How did the 2019 harvest treat you?
Compared to last year, this year has been great. In 2018 we've had lots of rain in spring and lost half of the harvest. This year went well, even though we didn't see a drop of rain for 4 months and had record temperatures of 43 degrees. We have started early (September 23-26) and we did it very fast, because of the heat. All grapes were harvested by hand, as usual. 


What is special about the Côtes du Rhône region?
We are in the south of the Côtes du Rhône, in an area called the 'Region les Barronies'. The higher altitude (300-350m) means we get more freshness up here when summers get hot. Because of this, compared to other wines of the southern Côtes du Rhône area, ours end up being more fresh and crisp. 
Also, in this region we have a big presence of polyculture. Loads of fruit and olive trees which is great for the soil.


What effect does the clay and limestone soil have on your wines?
These are rich soils which offer a lot of freshness. Two years ago we have started using natural compost as a fertiliser to avoid any sort of intervention. We plant wildflowers in between the vines and once they grow we cut the leaves which form the compost. We then let nature do its work.


Why are you using concrete tanks?
For us, it's a material which makes temperature regulation easy. It stays the same be it summer or winter as it withholds external temperature changes. We use them both for winemaking and also for storage.


What are the biggest changes you've seen in winemaking since you got started?
Clearly, the natural wine movement which is now more stronger than ever. Our domaine has been organically converted since 1976 by Antoine's father, but we have then gone further and started working naturally not only in the vineyard but also in the cave.
All the work we do in the vineyard is to allow the vines to have a natural equilibrium. This is then clearly reflected in the quality of the grapes.
The idea is to be as close as possible to the earth and take what it has to give without any intervention.


Do you think now there are more makers who are converting to bio?
Yes definitely. Near us there are plenty of winemakers who are converting. But then also not everyone is ready to make the change. 
I have also more customers who come to the shop and want to find wines with as little sulfur as possible, because they can tell the negative effect sulfur has on their bodies, such as headaches and stomach ache. Or, they are allergic to sulfur. And I find that this sort of customer base is growing. That's good because mentalities are changing and people are asking themselves more often now about what exactly it is they are eating and drinking.
It's essential for us to work with people like you because you can relay our philosophy back to your customers and contribute to the change.


Which wine fairs will we be able to see you at in the coming few months?
Definitely La Dive Bouteille on the 2 & 3 of February 2020 in Angers. That is THE wine fair for us. Just before that will also be at Les Affranchis in Montpellier on the 26 & 27 of January 2020. That's it for us when it comes to big wine fairs. 
What I have started doing more of are trips to see clients around France, or smaller events organised by different people we work with.


What can you tell us about your future plans?
We would like to plant more vines in 2020, especially the ones which offer freshness like Cinsault or Mourvèdre. 


 

Wines now in stock

Red


2017 (VDF) Petit Jo – Grenache, Syrah
Hand harvested, 100% de-stemmed. Short maceration to retain freshness. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks. No added sulfur.

2017 (Côtes du Rhône) Premices - Grenache, Syrah
Hand harvested, 100% de-stemmed. 8 day fermentation with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks. Pumping over and racking after fermentation. No filtration or added sulfur.


2015 (Côtes du Rhône) Le Claux - Grenache, Syrah
Hand harvested, 100% de-stemmed. 20 day fermentation with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks. Pumping over and racking after fermentation. No added sulfur.


2017 (Côtes du Rhône) Flonflons - Grenache, Syrah
Hand harvested, 100% de-stemmed. 12-day fermentation with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks. No added sulfur.

For any wholesale and stock enquiries, please contact hello@winesutb.com

Ferme De Sept Lunes

Ferme De Sept Lunes

Jean Delobre (left)

Bogy, St Joseph, France

We toasted the birth of the idea that became Under the Bonnet Wines with a bottle of Jean Delobre's formidable Ardeche Syrah VDF. Four years on, imagine how chuffed we are to be able to bring his wines to you.

Le Ferme des Sept Lunes is a 10-hectare farm perched in one of the highest areas of St Joseph. Visiting involves a tortuous 350m road-climb from the valley floor. The hair-pins are not for the faint-hearted.

The latest of three generations on the same farm, Jean converted to organic and biodynamic agriculture in 1997 and only uses sulphur in his wines when it's absolutely unavoidable. The vineyards in the upper part of St.Joseph have a south-eastern exposure, the altitude bringing freshness to the wines. The climate has been tending to Mediterranean in recent year, with wind coming from the north.

Each cuvée is site-specific; with Syrah, Roussane, Marsanne, Viognier and a bit of Gamay planted mostly on granite soils. The wines all show great freshness and purity, the whites all have texture and tension, the reds with depth, aromatics and a fantastic juiciness.

Wines now in stock

White

NEW 2017 VDF Lune Rousse – Roussane
No added SO2, creamy, peachy, long.

NEW 2016 St. Joseph Blanc – Roussane,Marsane
Vinified and aged separately for one year in old oak, waxy, earthy, saline, still retaining freshness and tension.

NEW 2012 St. Joseph Blanc – Roussane, Marsane
The wine developed flor during its one year in barrel. Oxidative, nutty, saline, with an underlying citrus freshness. A very intriguing wine.


Red

NEW 2015 Premier Quartier – Syrah
A blend of parcels, deep concentrated, the most structured wine with the broadest shoulders, sappy and pithy.

NEW 2016 Pleine Lune – Syrah
Vines planted in 1990, Aromatic, juicy, rhubarb, blackberries, violets, long, soft and very easy to drink.

For wholesale prices, please email hello@winesutb.com