Winemaking has seen significant improvement over the last century. New treatments and measurements have given winemakers far more control over their craft. “Poor vintages” are now less common, but in the cheap many wines give up true expression for homogeneity.
The winemakers at the Mas Foulaquier have a more traditional approach. Their pesticide-free vineyards are archetypes of polyculture, with wildflowers and insects at home amid the rows of vines. From these vibrant vineyards the winemakers obtain the central elements of the winemaking process — untreated grapes from the vines, and wild yeasts from the skins and ambient air.
This is winemaking in its purest, most original form, and the results are wines of remarkable complexity and grace.
Winemaking without much vineyard treatment or controlled yeast strains is not easy, and the results can be variable. But the winemakers at Foulaquier are deeply dedicated to their craft and their wines are proof that hard work and care pay off. These are some of the finest biodynamic wines we import.
Today we’re suggesting their new “Calades,” a syrah-dominant wine of a beautiful dark, inky hue. The nose is classic French syrah, showing black pepper, blackberry, and dark chocolate. But in the mouth this is unmistakably Foulaquier — a symphony of cool, earthy, jammy notes like plum and lavender — at once mouthfilling and balanced. It’s a marriage of the Languedoc’s ruggedly beautiful landscape with Foulaquier’s silky elegance and rustic earthiness.
This is living wine; we like to serve it outside, in the natural environment from which it comes. Find a sunny spot with a gentle breeze, plunge your nose into Calades’s extraordinary complexity, and you’ll feel as at home in the world as ever.
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Foulaquier Calades 2015
Ansonia Retail: $38
3+ bottle price : $32/bot
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES