Today I am mainly drinking La Coulee and Chateau Poujeaux
2007 Olivier Pithon La Coulée Cotes du Roussillon
“Set in the south of the south, if you know Lille it’s in the north of the north, well we’re in the south of the south.
Perpignan is the centre of the world and all in all we are just next door, at the centre of a triangle between Montpellier, Toulouse and Barcelona. It’s a little paradise between the sea and the mountains.
“....I discovered with him (Stephane Derancourt) the sensitivity to how wines can become pleasure, balance and lightness. The love of a job well done, the precision in the choice of interventions, the importance of tasting during the production of wines and the respect for the prime material, are vital.
“...It made sound silly, but its everything you didn’t learn at school that counts. We never learn that it’s essential to make wines which you love. They never speak to you about poetry, love and pleasure. Stephane made me understand all that and nothing more. Sometimes one meeting changes everything.
“...I don’t do anything extraordinary. I work. I put on the compost. I use sulphur against the vine mildew and an infusion of horse tail for the little mildew that we have. This remains a base. As time goes by, through reading, exchanging ideas, wine tasting and other experiences, the wish to take inspiration from the biodynamic comes naturally. Silica and horn dung (501 and 500) complete the infusions of horse tail, fern and nettle’s which I use.
“...My goal is to make the wine as good as possible by getting as much out of the soil as I can, whilst respecting our environment and considering the problem of leaving to generations to come healthy soil: ““We don’t inherit the land of our ancestors, we lend it to our children””.
Terroir is schists , shales and marnes. Yields are a tiny 25hl/ha and the wine is aged in a mixture of foudres and barrels. This new vintage of Pithon’s Roussillon is a gem. Made from 35 year old Carignan with Grenache and Syrah La Coulée positively exudes the bonniest purple colour inviting you to stick your nose into its smoky, mineral, savoury, roasted depths. The palate is savoury, dark yet bright with compact, grippy tannins and a delicious minerality behind the vivid fruit. Good acidity and a long finish. Think roasted currants and throw some fresh juniper and thyme in the mix. Drink with hare catalane style or chill it slightly in the summer and guzzle with ratatouille.
2001 Chateau Poujeaux, Moulis-en-Medoc
Château Poujeaux, known in the 16th century as “La Salle de Poujeaux”, an outbuilding of the present Château Latour, was purchased by Monsieur Castaing in 1806, and subsequently divided into three in 1880.
In 1921, François Theil bought one third. All the vintages as from 1957 were signed Jean Theil, who succeeded in reuniting the three châteaux into a single winery, as it was before 1880. Since 1981, the estate has been run by three of his sons, Philippe, Jean-Pierre and François Theil. In March 1997, the seven children created the Société Anonyme Jean THEIL. Over the last 15 years, the production area has been increased by 10 hectares. Considerable investments have been made for the cellars, with temperature control, ageing in new oak barrels, and increasingly stringent selection of the harvest, driven by a constant concern for quality.
Located in the heart of the Médoc, between Margaux and Saint-Julien, the Moulis appellation benefits from an exceptional terroir. Château Poujeaux has an uninterrupted vineyard of 52 hectares planted on the finest outcrops of Günz gravel, the ideal soil for the great classified growths of the region.
Planting at Château Poujeaux consists of the four traditional and perfectly complementary grape varieties : - the Cabernet-Sauvignon (50%) : the predominant variety in the Médoc, produces a powerful wine with a bright, lively colour.
- the Merlot (40%) : with its superb roundness, brings the firm, mellow bouquet.
- the Cabernet-Franc (5%) : planted at Poujeaux in some of the finest plots, adds that touch of sophistication.
-the Petit-Verdot (5%) : brings elegance, with a full-bodied, strong-coloured wine, rich in tannin.
This blend ensures the richness and harmony of each vintage.
The vat-room at Château Poujeaux houses wooden vats, epoxy-resin lined concrete vats and stainless steel vats. They are all thermo-regulated to control the vinification temperature. The tannins in Château Poujeaux wines are always excellent, and deserve the concentration, which explains the length of fermentation and maceration (4 weeks on average). The ageing cellar at Château Poujeaux currently contains some 1,200 oak barrels. Half of them are renewed every year. 12 months of barrel-ageing gives the wine its spirit, not to say genius. Clarification by racking from barrel to barrel, and fining with egg whites are part of the fundamental rules of wine-making. Château Poujeaux is not filtered or refrigerated, enabling the wine to keep all its richness.
The 2001 Pooh Sticks has a glossy red black wine, with cassis and bramble fruit, mineral notes and some smoke. Finely balanced on the palate, with elegant, ripe tannins. Medium bodied but with a beautiful silky texture, lots of fruit and a moderate but mouth filling weight. This wine describes elegance and finesse, but there was enough poke to keep my fillet of Aberdeen Angus (Scarista style) on its hooves. I have always really loved this overdelivering southern Medoc wine.