Calmel & Joseph – Côtes du Brian Vieux Carignan

Located a few kilometers away from the picturesque medieval walled city of Carcassonne, UNESCO World Heritage, the Haute Couture micro négoce Domaine Calmel & Joseph crafts a panel of authentic terroir driven wines from Languedoc Roussillon.
Calmel & Joseph is involved in all the stages of the process from the initial vineyard management to vinification and bottling. The low intervention winemaking is done by Laurent Calmel, while Jérôme Joseph, the business side, travels the world as the Ambassador of the Domaine. The pair also owns a stunning, organically farmed, 200 hectare property in the village of Montirat. Twenty 20 hectares is under vine, the rest being devoted to biodiversity with olive groves, lavender Fields, almonds orchards and beehives.

Discover the tiny appellation Côtes du Brian tucked in between St Chinian and Minervois. The mediterranean climate displays low rainfall and mild temperatures, at an altitude between 250 and 350 m. The prevailing wind is dry, from the northwest, coming from the Montagne Noire.

Organic. From vines planted in 1895 in a clay limestone terroir. Hand-picked, destemmed but not crushed before being going into vat for a long maceration/fermentation. The wine is then racked and settled several times before undergoing its malolactic fermentation in vat over the autumn. Aged in concrete vats for six months.

‘‘Although the wine smells a bit like caramelized beef, those steak-sear umami notes fill the palate, it’s remarkably fresh and the fruit is pulsing with life. Dark plums, umeboshi saltiness and tang, dark gingerbread, ginger-root skin and tamarind. Masses of garrigue packed into tannins with the texture of old driftwood. Earthy, sautéed-mushroom finish. This is a raw, honest, beautiful, untampered-with expression of old-vine Carignan.’’ 17 points Jancis Robinson

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