Les Trois Terres
Graeme
Angus leads a double life; he works as a GP and as a vigneron. No prizes for guessing which he
prefers. Over ten years ago he took
the decision to leave the rat race of the London medical world and settle in a
little village in the Languedoc, so 2004 was his first vintage. He now has four hectares of vines, with nine
different parcelles in three villages, Cabrières, St. Jean de la Blaquière and
Octon.
At St. Jean
de la Blaquière, most of his vineyards are Grenache, planted at 180 metres, so
benefitting from the freshness of the altitude.
In Cabrières, Syrah on schist is the main variety, so that makes for two
different cuvées, a Terrasses du Larzac based on Grenache and a Coteaux du
Languedoc based on the Syrah, with the grapes from Octon providing extra
blending options. And sometimes he makes a bit of rosé. Yields are tiny, 20 hl/ha, so he is lucky if he makes 10,000 bottles in a year. His tiny cellar is underneath their house in Octon, just along the road from Mas des Chimères. You sense that
Graeme is quietly passionate about he does, questioning it with a scientific mind,
and he is ably supported by his wife Alice.
We went
along for a catch up tasting –
2010 le Saut du Diable, Terrasses du Larzac. – 10€
Grenache, with some Carignan, Syrah and a little Cinsaut. The Grenache vines are 45 years old. 2010 is a vintage to keep. Graeme considers his keeping vintages to be
2005 and 2010, while 2011 and 2012 are earlier maturing wines. And this 2010 spent about 12 months in barrel. That varies with the quality of the vintage;
2007 was a fruitier year and was only given 8 months, where 2008 was a much
more closed year and got 18 months in wood.
The vinification was very simple, natural yeast and some sulphur. Graeme used to keep each variety and plot separately
but now that he knows his wines and vines better, he tends to blend earlier. A deep colour. The lovely ripe fruit of Grenache with some firm
spice and freshness from the altitude.
The tannins are still pretty furry, with good mouth feel. Definitely a wine to forget about.
Then Graeme
remembered his rosé, 2012, from a Syrah grown in St. Jean de la Blaquière. It comes from a particularly vigorous part of
the vineyard that gives large juicy grapes.
And was trod by foot. Very perfumed
fruit with good acidity. Ripe
strawberries balanced by acidity. And is
Vin de France to avoid any bureaucratic hassle.
7.00€
2009 la Minérale, Coteaux du Languedoc – 9.00€
80% Syrah
from Cabrières, with some Cinsaut and Grenache.
2009 was a hot vintage and Graeme found it a difficult vintage, but he
has certainly pulled it off. Deep young
colour. Quite solid and dense, some perfumed fruit and quite firm tannins. Quite a solid confit note on the finish.
2006 la Minérale
The first
vintage of this cuvée was vin de pays d’Oc as it is pure Syrah. Deep
young colour. Firm and
concentrated. Some perfumed Syrah
fruit. Youthful and peppery and still
quite tannic. Apparently this has taken
ages to come round; 12 months ago it was still overwhelmingly tannic, but it
now very satisfying, with fruit as well as tannin.
2011 le Saut
du Diable
Not yet
bottled. The nose is a bit reduced, and the
wine needs racking, but there is nothing wrong with that; it is just having an
adolescent grunt. And the palate has
ripe cherry fruit, with some freshness.
2010 la Minérale
has just been bottled. This was a great
year for Syrah. Deep young colour. Quite a firm nose, with some black fruit. And on the palate it is solid and rounded
with perfumed fruit and tannin. Very youthful
with freshness on the finish. It just
needs time. And Graeme likes to give his
wine some bottle age.
2012 barrel
sample – the future Saut du Diable, with some lovely ripe fruit and fresh
cherries. And some supple tannins. This had a shorter, ten day, maceration to
make it readier earlier. In the past Graeme
has gone for long macerations, gradually reducing from eight weeks down to
three or four.
2012 La Minérale, Syrah with some Grenache and Cinsaut. Another barrel sample. Fresh
fruit on nose and palate, with a tannic streak, but very fruit driven, with
some lovely perfume.
And we
finished with a barrel sample of some Syrah from St. Jean de la Blaquière. Graeme is particularly pleased with it, but
is not sure what to do with it, as he does not want to add it to la Minérale. I could see why he likes it so much – it was beautifully
perfumed, with ripe fruit, liquorice and black cherries and some tannin, and a harmonious
finish. A great finale to our tasting. And afterwards we were invited to lunch under the shade of a large mulberry tree.
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