Step into a breezy meadow or a shady forest, close your eyes, and breathe in — the smells and sensations are countless, complex, and awe-inspiring. Natural wines, when they’re made carefully, channel a little slice of nature’s limitless vitality like little else can. And nobody in our portfolio does this more skillfully than the Mas Foulaquier.
Located in Pic-St-Loup, considered among the best terroirs in the Languedoc, Foualquier crafts delicious red blends by employing careful biodynamic viticulture. Their wines channel the region’s wildness into exuberant, fruit-and-earth mixtures that are always complex and always polished.
Today we’re suggesting Calades, their 80/20 Syrah-Grenache blend. As with all of Foulaquier’s wines, it’s unfined, unfiltered, barely sulfited, and raised with no new-oak barrels. Their winemaking philosophy involves as little intervention as possible between vineyard and wineglass, and they do it as well as anyone we know.
The 2017 is excellent and among the best versions of the wine we can remember. The nose shows honey and violets, with fresh herbs and wild cherry fruit. The mouth is elegant and long, with perfectly ripe plum fruit dripping from the fine grained tannins. It’s dark and concentrated but lively and quite light on its feet — a perfect marriage of ruggedness and finesse.
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Foulaquier Calades 2017
bottle price: $36
FREE EAST COAST SHIPPING ON ANY 12 BOTTLES