Château Beauregard-Mirouze in the Corbières,
I have met Karine
Mirouze a few times at various wine fairs in London and France and enjoyed
tasting her wines, so she encouraged me to come and visit. She is actually breathtakingly efficient and
did not forget that I said that I would be in the Languedoc in September and a date
was in the diary by early August.
The property comes
from her husband, Nicolas’s family and wine has been made here since the 1880s. It is close to the wonderful Cistercian abbey
of Fontfroide, which is more than worth the detour. Close by is the château of St. Martin de Toque,
to which Beauregard once belonged, but these days there are different owners. On a
Monday morning of uncertain weather, it was shrouded in mist. In the 1960s the vineyards were run by
Nicolas’ grandmother, evidently une femme formidable in the best sense of the
word. She planted some Syrah as early as 1967, but
never bottled any wine, and otherwise did not renew the vineyards much. Her children were not interested in the
estate, So Nicolas is the first member
of his family in seven generations to live there and run the estate as his
principal occupation. It is a choice
that he made, and he is clearly passionate about his vineyards. ‘We know our vineyards; we are in them 365 days of the year’.
Karine explained that
she and Nicolas met in Paris; she comes from Bordeaux and they were both studying agriculture. Nicolas’s father was in medicine, so Beauregard
was his childhood holiday
home. They went to see his grandmother,
and the seeds for the adventure were sown.
La passion
est née de la rencontre, as Karine put it. It
was a question of starting from scratch, and Nicolas’s grandmother, who is now in her 80s, was thrilled. Karine described her as a visionary in her time,
and although she now lives in Montpellier, she comes to Beauregard for the harvest.
First Karine took us
on a tour of the vineyards. They have
25 hectares of vines, including 14 hectares of Corbières, and altogether about
300 hectares of land, with vineyards surrounded by garrigues and pine trees, which is very good for organic viticulture as
it avoids the problems of neighbours’ sprays. There is Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and
Syrah, but no Carignan, and for white wine, they have Marsanne, Roussanne, and
Vermentino. The old Carignan vines
didn’t ripen properly, neither did the Bourboulenc; it proved as difficult as
Carignan. The eleven hectares of vins de
pays are planted with Viognier, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and also Syrah. The soil is stony sandstone, with north
facing vineyards, making for cooler nights at 200 metres altitude. And the soil is acid, as witnessed by the
presence of heather, and some of it is red, indicating the presence of iron. Wild
boar are a problem, so they install electric fences when the grapes are
ripening. Altogether there are eleven
plots of Corbières, and six for vin de pays,
much of which they sell to the négoce.
The cellar is a
standard Languedoc cellar, with natural air conditioning as it is partly
underground, with large concrete vats, which they can fill by gravity. At one time it processed 5000 hls from 50
hectares; these days their annual crop is about 800 hls. The old foudres have long since gone. Some of the original concrete vats are
enormous, 312 h – 276 hls – they prefer smaller vats with chapeaux
flottants. The barrel cellar is built in
to the rock, with 600 litre tonneaux and barriques, usually from the forests of
the Vosges and Tronçais.
The first grapes, Viognier,
were picked on 6th September, mechanically at 3 a.m. The juice was
chilled, this year it is very clear, a reflection on the health of the grapes.
We sat round a large
table in the family house and tasted.
2013 Corbières, Tradition
Blanc – 7.00€
30% Roussanne,
Marsanne 50% plus and the rest is Vermentino.
A simple vinification and bottled at the end of January. 2013 is only the second vintage of this wine.
These are young vines. Light
colour. Quite a fresh sappy nose. Good acidity.
Some stony refreshing fruit. With a touch of minerality. Medium weight. Fresh and youthful.
2012 Corbières Blanc Lauzine
– 12.00€
Lauzine is the name of
the plot. Auze is a chêne verte in
Occitan. From the same three grape
varieties, but fermented in barrel.
Light golden. A rather flat nose,
with a touch of oak. Much more depth in the palate. Quite elegant and buttery., with some
oak Karine observed that the vent
marin which was blowing that particular morning can sometimes flatten the wines. 2001 was their first vintage, and they talked
about learning about their wines. You need
to find the right cooper; they had tried American and Bulgarian oak and
have opted for light toasting. Mathieu
Dubernet, son of Marc, is their
oenologist.
2013 Corbières Tradition
Rosé – 7.00€
Mainly Syrah, which is
pressed, and some Cinsaut which is saigné.
Vines specifically destined for rosé.
A little colour. Very red fruit,
particularly strawberries. Very ripe,
rounded juicy and vinous, with fresh acidity.
2012 Corbières
Tradition Rouge – 7.00€
Half Syrah, half Grenache;
élevage in vat for nine to twelve months.
Medium colour. Some berry fruit
on nose. On the palate lots of nuances,
a leathery note, some garrigues, some spice.
Supple tannins. Medium weight
with a fresh finish.
Nicolas talked about
the côté réducteur, when the new wine needs some aeration. Pigeage is good to balance that, rather than délèstages. They destem all their red grapes and the
maceration lasts about ten to fifteen days.
They do not want long extractions, and like to blend, beginning at the
beginning of the fermentation.
There has been talk of
various terroirs for Corbières as it is a very large appellation. Boutenac has emerged as a cru, but none of the
others, but I wondered about the identity of the vineyard around Fontfroide. Nicolas suggested finesse, rather than power. The climate is cooler than some parts of the Corbières,
and white wine does well here.
2011 Corbières Lauzine
– 12.00€
70% Syrah with some
Grenache Noir. A longer cuvaison, with
some pigeage. About 60% élevage in
barrel, depending on the vintage, and not all new wood, and the rest in vat. Medium colour. Delicately oaky. Quite firm fruit on the nose. More depth on the palate. Quite elegant with some garrigues notes,
liquorice and mint. Supple tannins,
Nicely balanced, but with no great concentration.
2010 Corbières Fiaire
– 20.00€
The name of the hill
and a selection of the best grapes. They chose two or three of the best
barriques from Lauzine and keep them for longer. So all aged in wood, and predominately Syrah,
as well as some Mourvèdre. Deeper colour.
Quite solid and dense and the nose, but quite an elegant perfumed palate, with
some tapenade notes. Nicely nuanced with
supple tannins. Ready for drinking and a
long finish.
2010 Corbières Fiaire blanc. –
20.00€
Again from the best
barrels from Lauzine. They do a
malo-lactic fermentation, and allow for some oxygenation. Bâtonnage
simply by turning the barrels – bâtonnage protects against oxidation. 12 months on the lees. No sulphur during vinification, only at the
harvest and at bottling. Quite a deep
golden colour. Quite rich and leesy. Very rich palate; smooth characterful,
buttery notes. Good depth. Notes of fennel and aniseed. Rich and quite
opulent. Long and very satisfying.
And we finished with a
taste of the Viognier that had been picked two days earlier. It was already very clear, with honeyed notes
and soft acidity.
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