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Join us in De Beauvoir Town next month as we pour new wines for the trade alongside our pals Otros Vinos (themselves joined by Marius Long of Domaine Sense Pressa)
On Monday Feb 24th we'll be at the lovely Goodbye Horses, from 10:00 - 16:00, pouring wines with an optimistic promise of the approaching spring!
If you work in the trade and would like to taste, drop us an email to RSVP with the preferred time you'd like to join.
New wines from Melaric have just landed!
In Saumur-Puy-Notre-Dame, one couple has surely had a bigger impact on the area's recent winemaking culture than any other: Melanie Cunin and Aymeric Hillaire. Picking up where Philippe Gourdon left off- who retired in the mid-2000s and leased his biodynamic vineyards to the pair- they've since found a cluster of young growers to take on the remaining parcels.
With Melanie teaching winemaking nearby (counting David of La Folle Berthe and Beatriz of Clos Kixhaya among her students ) and Aymeric offering experience and assistance to budding winemakers in the region, they've worked tirelessly to support new projects in the area.
There's a genuine sense of community in Puy-Notre-Dame, with growers working together to support each other's projects. Pauline from L'Austral credits much of the energy to Aymeric and Melanie:
"Working with them was very special, it was fascinating. We're very happy here. There's no competition, everyone is here to help one another, sharing knowledge. If people drink the wines from Saumur Puy-Notre-Dame they'll discover how special a region it is. Aymeric is very passionate about that, he really pushes the movement for discovering our location."
Working a surface of just under five hectares over Tuffeau and Silex farmed according to biodynamics, the wines of Domaine Melaric continue to be a skilled demonstration of the possibilities available at this southern tip of Saumur. Work in the cellar is careful and considered, favouring slow presses, long fermentations and ageing in the caves, with minimal sulphur use.
We have a handful of new arrivals from Melanie & Aymeric available now from their recent vintages:
SPARKLING
2022 - Globules Rose - Cab Franc
From a parcel located on the southern slope of the cherry orchard of Puy Notre Dame, with a silt clay top soil over chalk. Pressed directly, fermented for 6 weeks, bottled with 20g/l residual sugar to continue as a pet nat. Disgorged after 24 months on lees.
WHITE
2023 - Sac de Billes - Chenin
From a parcel farmed by friends in Montreuil Bellay (8km from Puy Notre Dame), young vines on sandy gravel over clay. Whole-bunch pressed after selection, fermentation and ageing for 8 months in fibreglass tanks. Bottled unfiltered, with 15mg/l sulphur added at bottling.
2022 - Billes de Roche - Chenin
Billes de Roche Blanc comes from a single parcel of 1.4 hectares. The vines are between 30 - 50 years old. The plot is located at the top of the Cerisaie hill on its eastern slope, with 30 to 80 cm of silty to sandy clay over yellow tuffeau. Whole-bunch pressed after selection, aged 12 months in 228-500l barrels and 4 additional months in tank. Unfiltered, less than 20mg/l sulphur at bottling.
2021 - Billes de Roche Blanc (Magnum) - Chenin
2021 - Clos de La Cerisaie - Chenin
A blend of two small plots (0.7 ha) of Chenin aged between 45 and 50 years old. The vines have been grown organically since 1998. Located at the bottom of the slope of the Cerisaie hill, on its eastern slope. A little silty clay over white tuffeau. Whole-bunch pressed after selection, slow fermentation and ageing in a combination of 228l - 500l Burgundy barrels and a 500l Stockinger. Racked from barrel to tanks after 24 months, bottled unfiltered with 15mg/l sulphur at bottling.
SWEET
2010 - Liquoreux de La Cerisaie - Chenin
Made only when conditions are conducive to the full development of botrytis in their Chenin Blanc. Three weeks after harvest of the still wines, they return to all the parcels to pick what fruit remains. During the first pass these were observed with 30% botrytis, with full botrytis after two weeks. An 18 hour press to extract what little juice is present in the fruit, the wine is settled lightly before transferring to Burgundy barrels. The 2010 Liquoreux was racked from barrel in May 2014 after 30 months of ageing, before bottling with 30mg/l sulphur. Only 600 bottles produced.
Join us in 4 weeks as we pour new wines for the trade alongside our pals Otros Vinos, Wright's Wines, Wayward Imports and Beattie & Roberts.
On Monday Feb 17th we'll be at the beautiful new Isca in Levenshulme, from 10:00 - 16:00, pouring wines with an optimistic promise of the approaching spring!
If you work in the trade and would like to swing by, drop us a DM to RSVP.
We're so pleased to begin the year with new wines from Celine & Alexandre at Domaine Balansa, who make wonderfully precise, elegant wines from their patchwork of old vines over soft brown schist in the hills of the Hautes-Corbières.
Celine & Alexandre farm 14 hectares biodynamically, on parcels up to 400m above sea level, centenarian 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 snapshot of a single vineyard, the whole collection painting a picture of Celine & Alex's surface in the hills. Work in the cellar is gentle and precise, wines are aged simply in concrete tanks, 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.
WHITE
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.
ROSE/RED
2023 - Peche de Rozies - 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
2023 - 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.
2022 - 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.
2022 - 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.
