The Story:

It’s a tale of two halves. One half of this domaine is insanely innovative. Not many would have the courage to plant gewürztraminer in the Languedoc, but the Delmas brothers decided to have a go. “Why do what everyone else is doing? We want to be niche.”  The other half is deeply traditional. There’s a grenache syrah carignan blend, which is a classic Languedoc type, but more than that, they give Languedoc’s old workhorse, carignan, some serious care and attention. And I would suggest it’s for the two extremes that you should be investigating this young domaine.

The gewürztraminer (Price Band B) is fascinating; full of aromas, yet their main bottling is on the bone dry side of things, from vines that were planted in 2009, so still young, but getting better each year. Imagine a typical i.e Alsace gewürztraminer, but then add some sun, but don’t let it hang too long on the vine, and this is what you get. Refreshing, and full but not crazily so; this experiment is definitely worthwhile. They also do a ‘vendange tardive’ (late harvest) gewürztraminer, called ‘L’inédit’,(Price Band D) which is lovely, in a very grapey way, and they bottle a little bit unfermented, which makes a great non-alcohol tipple in attractive carafes. Also worth a look is their ‘Petit Grains’ a charming blend of muscat and sauvignon: note that ‘classic’ Cotes de Thongue trick of blending a floral grape with a crisper one to get the right texture.

Their traditional Langeudoc grape blends are fine, but where you should start getting excited is when they get hold of their carignan. The main bottling is called ‘Carignan Méchant’ (Price Band B), from old vines and partly made with carbonic maceration. The ‘méchant’ must be reference to carignan’s bad reputation, for actually there’s a gorgeous purity of fruit to this. But where things start getting worth an aria or two is with their special 100% carignan cuvée, called ‘L’embuscade’ (the ambush) (Price Band DD) - the ‘ambush’ is the sense that it’s so delicious you get ambushed into drinking far more than you expect and get a bit heady. They deliberately add to the rogue appeal by making exactly 666 bottles each harvest (if it’s a plentiful vintage, some of the bottles become magnums, but the number 666 is preserved), and it’s extraordinary. I grant you, it’s not up everyone’s street; this a blockbuster; full volume, ‘turn it up to 11’, fully extracted, totally Parkerised carignan, and I loved it. It’s demonstration of just what this wonderfully generous grape can do, when you give it personal attention rather than leaving it merely to contribute some heft to a blend of something else. And, to be fair to it, this has a hint of grace too, alongside the fulsome fruit. The finish goes on forever.

They have just started planting mourvedre and are full of passion, joie de vivre and spirit of experimentation. Look out for this small domaine in the future.