Champagne Alsace Loire Valley Burgundy Rhône Provence Languedoc Roussillon Southwest Bordeaux

france: languedoc

Château Coupe Roses, Minervois

Françoise Le Calvez and her enologist husband Pascal Frissant work their domaine with passion and acumen high in the Mediterranean hinterlands, a wild, remote land rich in history. They are active members of the lutte raisonnée organization, farming as organically as possible.

Their vineyards are in Le Causse, the zone situated on a plateau around the villages of Minerve and La Caunette. The name refers to exposed rock and garrigue. At 750 to 1,350 feet above sea level, this is the highest region in Minervois. Nights are relatively cool here and the growing season is the longest in the AC. The wines have excellent acidity and freshness, without any of the plodding, overripe character that plagues many Languedoc wines.

There are four red cuvées. Bastide, an intense mouthful of mountain Grenache and Carignan cut with a touch of Syrah, is simply a great buy. Vignals, a lovely blend of Syrah, Grenache, and a dollop of old-vine Carignan, is a deliciously rich, spicy, chocolately wine with an enveloping earthiness and garrigue. Granaxa (dialect for Grenache) is a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah made in older Orience barrels. This is one of the finer Grenache wines made in the Languedoc, with a purity and sweetness of fruit that normally is only found in top Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Orience is the luxury cuvée of densely dark Syrah, intensely flavored old-vine Carignan, and a dollop of pure red fruit Grenache. Orience deserves decanting to allow its flavors to unfold. Françoise and Pascal work extensively with the lees, use minimal SO2, rack the wine only once before bottling, and rarely fine and only lightly filter. The fruit is picked late and yields are very low (about 30hl/ha).

The Champ du Roy blanc is an exotic wine made from Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, and Muscat.