Tasted in its final assemblage, and due to be bottled in late May, the Clos Marie 2010 Coteaux du Languedoc Manon – blending Rolle and Roussanne, with diminishing amounts of Macabeu, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Carignan Blanc and Clairette – offers a perfumed profusion of iris, narcissus, and lily-of-the-valley accompanied by ripe pear and fresh lime that follow on a bright, polished palate, finishing with the sort of intriguingly zesty, invigorating, and seemingly mineral impingement that I associate in particular with Grenache Gris and Carignan Blanc. This should prove delightfully versatile for at least 3-4 years. Christophe Peyrus and Francois Julien – for more about whose vineyards and methods, consult my report in issue 183 – offered me a unique opportunity this April to survey their recent wines both red and white back to the 2006 vintage, and the result was both thrilling and humbling. It probably isn’t often that so may exceptional Languedoc wines of any sort appear on a single table – even if such situations are common in the case of fashionable and long-prestigious wine regions. (Due to time constraints, I had to take a rain check on the white Metairies du Clos bottlings.) The humbling arose from recognizing the extent to which – despite my enthusiastic review of these wines in issue 183 – I had grossly under-rated the extraordinary 2006s of this estate. But it was also an opportunity to recognize how much difference both the passage of time and the particular time when wines are tasted make, as the 2007s with one exception proved somewhat less exciting than they had in December, 2008, when they had either been recently bottled or were not yet bottled. This was in fact a large part of the point to Peyrus and Julien’s generosity. As he remarked “Now you’re seeing the 2006s after they have enjoyed a decent post-bottling rest, while the 2007 reds are in a trough.” I have decided to publish all of my tasting notes in this report, offering readers the benefit of my second look at both the 2007s and 2006s. But please consider those reviews in the same context in which the wines were presented to me: as moving targets. “Taken in general,” opines Peyrus, “2008 is too severe; 2009 is too rich; and 2010 strikes the perfect equilibrium.” Given what was in barrel here when I visited, I won’t argue with Peyrus’ high opinion of 2010, but I’m sure he too is well aware that the Clos Marie collections from 2008 and 2009 are in their disparate ways also superb. “Fresh, lower in (alcoholic) degree, and higher acidity (than usual).” is how Peyrus succinctly summarized his estate’s 2010s, adding that “this was not a vintage that inordinately taxed the grower. Fermentations were rapid and complete – over in ten days maximum. There was plenty of fruit, florality, and tannin, so why would you need to go searching for something more” – by way of extraction, that is. Why indeed? Just consider the results! But Peyrus cautions that the young 2010s – just like their fermenting musts – will need plenty of aeration. In 2009, Peyrus notes that nearly all of his black cepages ripened simultaneously. “In ten days, we harvested all of the reds,” he relates, although even in the slightly more spread-out 2010 season, there was, Peyrus says, virtually optimal opportunity for co-fermentation of complementary cepages, an option that the protracted 2008 harvest did not afford him. In 2010 – in the name of achieving inter alia felicitous equilibrium – Peyrus utilized close to three-quarters whole berries with stems, more even for Grenache, despite it being in his view more challenging and risky to work with the stems of this cepage due to their relatively high mass and the more aggressive extraction that comes with higher alcohol. And speaking of equilibrium, Peyrus insists that balanced yields – in recent years Clos Marie has averaged 35-40 hectoliters per hectare – are critical to achieving balanced wines and that lowering yields to drastically in a misguided believe that less is always better can result in excessively tough tannin and too-rapid an accretion of sugar, with consequent subsequent alcoholic imbalance. And as for picking dates, he has decided that “better too early than too late” is a wise maxim. “The notion of phenolic maturity as presently widely-promulgated is a faux problem,” insists Peyrus. “The risk is that growers wait until their fruit looses acidity and freshness, eventually oxidizes, and results in wine of less character that ages more rapidly.”Importers include Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800 and Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040

From a diverse range of cepages headed by Rolle (a.k.a. Vermentino) Grenache Blanc and Roussanne that were pressed and vinified together, the Clos Marie 2009 Coteaux du Languedoc Manon mingles very ripe pear and pineapple with saline, alkaline, marine minerality on the nose as well as a creamy palate, to which hints of vanilla and honeydew melon add an enhanced sense of generous ripeness. But for all of its fat and richness, this retains an inextinguishable sense of primary melon and pineapple juiciness thought its long finish, where lobster shell reduction and nut oils contribute seductive intrigue. The mineral verve and invigoration of the corresponding 2010 or 2008 are missing here but there is a caressing, more than compensatory texture, and winsome, captivating length that are as hard to resist as they are to come by. I am reminded of some really fine 2006 Chablis. Interestingly, this outstanding value weighed in at only 12.9% alcohol and with a pH surprisingly low (at 3.3, versus around 3.15 in the corresponding 2010) given the rich and enveloping side of its personality, let alone its vintage. I’d plan on enjoying it over the next 2-3 years. Christophe Peyrus and Francois Julien – for more about whose vineyards and methods, consult my report in issue 183 – offered me a unique opportunity this April to survey their recent wines both red and white back to the 2006 vintage, and the result was both thrilling and humbling. It probably isn’t often that so may exceptional Languedoc wines of any sort appear on a single table – even if such situations are common in the case of fashionable and long-prestigious wine regions. (Due to time constraints, I had to take a rain check on the white Metairies du Clos bottlings.) The humbling arose from recognizing the extent to which – despite my enthusiastic review of these wines in issue 183 – I had grossly under-rated the extraordinary 2006s of this estate. But it was also an opportunity to recognize how much difference both the passage of time and the particular time when wines are tasted make, as the 2007s with one exception proved somewhat less exciting than they had in December, 2008, when they had either been recently bottled or were not yet bottled. This was in fact a large part of the point to Peyrus and Julien’s generosity. As he remarked “Now you’re seeing the 2006s after they have enjoyed a decent post-bottling rest, while the 2007 reds are in a trough.” I have decided to publish all of my tasting notes in this report, offering readers the benefit of my second look at both the 2007s and 2006s. But please consider those reviews in the same context in which the wines were presented to me: as moving targets. “Taken in general,” opines Peyrus, “2008 is too severe; 2009 is too rich; and 2010 strikes the perfect equilibrium.” Given what was in barrel here when I visited, I won’t argue with Peyrus’ high opinion of 2010, but I’m sure he too is well aware that the Clos Marie collections from 2008 and 2009 are in their disparate ways also superb. “Fresh, lower in (alcoholic) degree, and higher acidity (than usual).” is how Peyrus succinctly summarized his estate’s 2010s, adding that “this was not a vintage that inordinately taxed the grower. Fermentations were rapid and complete – over in ten days maximum. There was plenty of fruit, florality, and tannin, so why would you need to go searching for something more” – by way of extraction, that is. Why indeed? Just consider the results! But Peyrus cautions that the young 2010s – just like their fermenting musts – will need plenty of aeration. In 2009, Peyrus notes that nearly all of his black cepages ripened simultaneously. “In ten days, we harvested all of the reds,” he relates, although even in the slightly more spread-out 2010 season, there was, Peyrus says, virtually optimal opportunity for co-fermentation of complementary cepages, an option that the protracted 2008 harvest did not afford him. In 2010 – in the name of achieving inter alia felicitous equilibrium – Peyrus utilized close to three-quarters whole berries with stems, more even for Grenache, despite it being in his view more challenging and risky to work with the stems of this cepage due to their relatively high mass and the more aggressive extraction that comes with higher alcohol. And speaking of equilibrium, Peyrus insists that balanced yields – in recent years Clos Marie has averaged 35-40 hectoliters per hectare – are critical to achieving balanced wines and that lowering yields to drastically in a misguided believe that less is always better can result in excessively tough tannin and too-rapid an accretion of sugar, with consequent subsequent alcoholic imbalance. And as for picking dates, he has decided that “better too early than too late” is a wise maxim. “The notion of phenolic maturity as presently widely-promulgated is a faux problem,” insists Peyrus. “The risk is that growers wait until their fruit looses acidity and freshness, eventually oxidizes, and results in wine of less character that ages more rapidly.”Importers include Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800 and Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040

An intriguing and improbably marine nose of salt spray, alkali, kelp, shrimp shells, and chalk greets me from the glass of Clos Marie’s multi-cepages 2008 Coteaux du Languedoc Manon, which comes onto the palate not only suffused with the aforementioned mineral elements but brightly brimming with lime and grapefruit piquantly and invigoratingly infused with their zests. This finishes with cut, vigor, and saliva-inducement, and shows no sign of tiring, so that I am inclined to anticipate its being worth following for another couple of years. Christophe Peyrus and Francois Julien – for more about whose vineyards and methods, consult my report in issue 183 – offered me a unique opportunity this April to survey their recent wines both red and white back to the 2006 vintage, and the result was both thrilling and humbling. It probably isn’t often that so may exceptional Languedoc wines of any sort appear on a single table – even if such situations are common in the case of fashionable and long-prestigious wine regions. (Due to time constraints, I had to take a rain check on the white Metairies du Clos bottlings.) The humbling arose from recognizing the extent to which – despite my enthusiastic review of these wines in issue 183 – I had grossly under-rated the extraordinary 2006s of this estate. But it was also an opportunity to recognize how much difference both the passage of time and the particular time when wines are tasted make, as the 2007s with one exception proved somewhat less exciting than they had in December, 2008, when they had either been recently bottled or were not yet bottled. This was in fact a large part of the point to Peyrus and Julien’s generosity. As he remarked “Now you’re seeing the 2006s after they have enjoyed a decent post-bottling rest, while the 2007 reds are in a trough.” I have decided to publish all of my tasting notes in this report, offering readers the benefit of my second look at both the 2007s and 2006s. But please consider those reviews in the same context in which the wines were presented to me: as moving targets. “Taken in general,” opines Peyrus, “2008 is too severe; 2009 is too rich; and 2010 strikes the perfect equilibrium.” Given what was in barrel here when I visited, I won’t argue with Peyrus’ high opinion of 2010, but I’m sure he too is well aware that the Clos Marie collections from 2008 and 2009 are in their disparate ways also superb. “Fresh, lower in (alcoholic) degree, and higher acidity (than usual).” is how Peyrus succinctly summarized his estate’s 2010s, adding that “this was not a vintage that inordinately taxed the grower. Fermentations were rapid and complete – over in ten days maximum. There was plenty of fruit, florality, and tannin, so why would you need to go searching for something more” – by way of extraction, that is. Why indeed? Just consider the results! But Peyrus cautions that the young 2010s – just like their fermenting musts – will need plenty of aeration. In 2009, Peyrus notes that nearly all of his black cepages ripened simultaneously. “In ten days, we harvested all of the reds,” he relates, although even in the slightly more spread-out 2010 season, there was, Peyrus says, virtually optimal opportunity for co-fermentation of complementary cepages, an option that the protracted 2008 harvest did not afford him. In 2010 – in the name of achieving inter alia felicitous equilibrium – Peyrus utilized close to three-quarters whole berries with stems, more even for Grenache, despite it being in his view more challenging and risky to work with the stems of this cepage due to their relatively high mass and the more aggressive extraction that comes with higher alcohol. And speaking of equilibrium, Peyrus insists that balanced yields – in recent years Clos Marie has averaged 35-40 hectoliters per hectare – are critical to achieving balanced wines and that lowering yields to drastically in a misguided believe that less is always better can result in excessively tough tannin and too-rapid an accretion of sugar, with consequent subsequent alcoholic imbalance. And as for picking dates, he has decided that “better too early than too late” is a wise maxim. “The notion of phenolic maturity as presently widely-promulgated is a faux problem,” insists Peyrus. “The risk is that growers wait until their fruit looses acidity and freshness, eventually oxidizes, and results in wine of less character that ages more rapidly.”Importers include Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800 and Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040

Peyrus and Julien are also rendering some of the Languedoc’s most adventurous and successful whites, and their 2007 Coteaux du Languedoc Manon – blending Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Clairette, Rolle, Macabeu, Roussanne, and a touch of Muscat – is a fascinating delight. Aromas of linden (basswood flower), musky narcissus, and lime zest lead to a silken, rich palate that seems to have benefitted from the cleanliness of new wood and an exchange with air, without acquiring any overt oakiness or sacrificing brightness and refreshment. White peach, tangerine, lime zest, and inner-mouth floral perfume linger, along with suggestions of chalk dust. Enjoy this over the next 12-18 months. (I found an oddly pronounced alkalinity as well as a hint of drying in the finish of the otherwise impressively-concentrated 2006 Coteaux du Languedoc Manon slightly off-putting.) Christophe Peyrus and Francois Julien had only recently assembled the majority of their 2007 reds when I tasted with them in December, and that collection is as exciting as past experience with Clos Marie and recognition of the potential of this vintage would lead one to expect. “Ripeness came early and homogeneously,” says owner-winemaker Peyrus. “The harvest was very rapid, and the evolution of the wines has been precocious.” Yet even under these conditions, potential alcohol seldom exceeded 14.5% even for the blocks of Grenache, a circumstance Peyrus attributes to his biodynamic methods of cultivation. He is also a partisan of vendange entier (the inclusion of whole clusters in red wine fermentation – in his case generally at least 50%) and says the stems were thoroughly ripe (i.e. lignified) in 2007. It’s a measure of the excitement that within fifteen years, this estate has ascended from obscurity to the top echelon of French wine addresses. There is never a lot of new wood in this dripping-wet cellar, although much of what there is, interestingly, comes from Austrian barrel-maker Franz Stockinger. (The 2007 reds had never been sulfured when I tasted them – that happens here only at bottling, and then only very judiciously.)Imported by Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800 and Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040