Domaine du Péras Giroflet 2006

Tasted during a visit to Domaine Begude in Limox was this wine, 2006 Giroflet, made by Begude's manager Laurent Girault from the fruit of his family's vines at Domaine du Péras. This is a fascinating brew. He makes a white and a red, each sourced from 1 hectare of vines, so the entire domaine is just 2 hectares. In just 1 hectare (planted in 1925) he has at least 16 different red varieties, all of which go into this single cuvée. I didn't manage to make a note of all sixteen, but the list is headed up by Grenache which dominates the wine; then comes (in no particular order) Syrah, Cinsaut, Carignan, Mourvèdre (although Girault used the synonym Monastrell), Alicante Bouschet, Grand Noir de la Calmette (a Petit Bouschet/Aramon cross), Aramon itself, and obviously 8 others.



Aramon is perhaps worthy of a moment's consideration - although it is likely that you have never heard of it, it was once France's most widely-planted variety. A workhorse variety which would give the peasant vignerons good returns (up to 400 hl/ha), the quality simply wasn't there for the vine to maintain its position of dominance. Not at those yields, anyway! This tendency to yield great volumes of questionable worth was no doubt the origin of one of the variety's synonyms, Pisse-Vin. When yields are controlled, however, the resulting wines are much more interesting - I am told. I don't think it plays a sufficiently large role to really be noticed in this cuvée.

Domaine du Péras Giroflet (Vin de Table) 2006: Girault's wine is fermented in steel, with an élevage half in steel, half in oak, for 24 months. It is bottled without fining or filtration. Immediately after opening it showed some fascinating character on the nose, with a meaty, animalistic, savage and rustic character, with little in the way of overt fruit other than some plum skin and baked liquorice. There was a little element of raisin to the fruit as well, although paradoxically this was mixed with a fresh and bright chracter on the palate. There was moderate weight, a complex panoply of meaty flavour, nice freshness in terms of middle-weight texture and acidity, and overall this had a good, clean substance and sappy-sour finish. A fascinating wine, which I grew to really appreciate as it opened up. I would recommend decanting for an hour or two. 17+/20

Although probably impossible to track down in the UK (I can't see any stockists), it is available in the US from K&L for a fair price considering the price at the domaine, which is 70 Euros for 6.

Wonderful write-up, Chris. This planet is so rich in natural/human resources and learning about a seemingly inexpensive and rare red wine made with eighteen grape varieties certainly was a great read for me. Thanks.

Thanks for the note, sounds fascinating! Did you also try the white?

Sadly no - I think the white is a much more recent project - nevertheless I would have liked to have tried it, but it was just the red on offer on this visit.