The Story:

This is a remarkable new domaine featuring a couple who are only too happy to think outside the box. On the one hand, there’s a principle of minimum intervention and keeping it in the family. On the other hand, this is not heedlessly sticking to tradition: they are also garagistes, both literally and metaphorically. Literally, in that their cellar is in a garage in their back garden, albeit a big one; you reach it by going past the children playing football on the lawn outside. They like the home field of harvesting by hand as it’s all about getting close to the grapes and getting friends and family involved. But the garagiste metaphor of experimental vinification can be demonstrated when I say that their range of six includes one orange wine, one rosé made from malbec, and a carignan-grenache blend aged in amphoras. These guys are not afraid of experimentation.

So start by looking out for their vermentino blends. The first, Cuvée Vent Nouveau Blanc (Price Band B) is with roussanne and is a definite success, carrying forth the reedy parts of roussane with the freshness of vermentino. The second, Cuvée ‘Fach a l’ostal’ Blanc, has muscat and vermentino together. The logic is that the vermentino’s freshness cuts through the roundness of the muscat. (Price band A). It certainly does that, and while I’m not 100% convinced this blend is the future for muscat, it’s great that someone’s taking the chance to try out something new. (The name by the way is the Occitan for ‘Fait a la maison’, the language in homage to his grandparents who spoke Occitan; the message in homage to his principles.)

Their rosé, also called , Cuvée ‘Fach a l’ostal’, (Price band A) is really interesting in that it uses malbec, which is unique for this area. The colour is dark pink and it offers a totally different, more substantial take on rosé in the mouth.

Their red, ‘Fruit de la Terre’ (Price Band B) is a blend of grenache and old vine carignan that is aged for six months in amphoras, resulting in a supple fruity wine. Lovely stuff

Finally, there’s their orange wine, ‘Qu’es Aquo’, the Occitan words for ‘Qu’est-ce-que c’est?’ mirroring people’s response when they are offered an orange wine (Price Band B). The smell leads you to expect a sweet wine, but it’s got real tannin and substance. To my surprise, I liked it.