Mas Becha
Charles Perez was en plein vendanges
but he was very happy to take an hour away from his fermenting grapes to give
us a tasting. I always like going to
cellars where there is something actually happening, in this instance a délèstage,
with wine pouring out of one pipe to be transferred back into the vat. Charles prefers délèstages to remontages as
they are gentler. He finds that both pigeages
and remontages tend to give bitter flavours.
He wants very ripe grapes, which provide good colour, body and balance. and
gives them a pre-fermentation maceration à froid for four or five days, at about 7 - 10⁰C, with one or two
délèstages a day, which helps break up the cells and
then the fermentation is left to reach 30⁰C. He is very pleased with 2015; the état sanitaire is
impeccable.
Charles has a large estate, a total
of 110 hectares, of which 25 hectares are vineyards. He initially pulled up about 75 hectares of
vines, just keeping the best - half his vineyard is planted with Syrah - and there
are also almond and olive trees and some cork oaks. The area was originally one of polyculture
with self-sufficient farms. Charles has worked
organically since 2009. His average yield is between 25 – 35 hl/ha, without any
green harvesting. He explained how his father bought the
property in 1987, and produced wine en vrac, mainly vin doux at the time. In 2002 Charles started working on the estate
and began bottling their wine. The name
Becha is in fact a combination of Charles and his sister Béatrice, but she is not
involved with the vineyard, but is an architect paysagiste. Initially it was difficult to sell their
wine. Charles worked in wine shows and salons, and then he went to China for the first time in
2005 and as a result was one of the first in Roussillon to work in Asia. These days he sells all his wine in
bottle.
The village of Nyls lies at the
beginning of the hills of the Aspres, with a mosaic of vineyard soils, limestone and quartz, all very stony, with a variety of aspects, and an altitude
as high as 500 metres. The village has links with the Templers who
were in the area in the 9th century. There is also a strong maritime influence as Nyls is
quite close to the sea.
Essentially Charles’ cellar is a
large modern shed with small fibre glass vats and larger stainless steel ones,
and some barriques. He makes red and rosé
but no white at the moment and a little Vin Doux and Muscat. However he has some white varieties, Vermentino, Grenache Blanc
and Macabeo, coming into production, and on reflection he thinks it was possibly a mistake to choose Grenache Blanc; Grenache Gris would have been better. As for reds Syrah is the dominant variety,
with Mourvèdre and Grenache, but no Carignan or Cinsaut. Nearly all his vines were planted in the
1990s, apart from some Grenache dating from the 1970s.
And by the cellar door there is a white mulberry tree which may be a
cutting from a tree planted in Versailles at the time of the Revolution.
His labels, which are a challenge to photograph - I failed miserably, as you will see -
depict cartoons of each member of his family, with a different artist each
year.
We settled down in his nicely
appointed tasting room:
2013 Cotes du Roussillon, las Aspres Classique – 9.50€
60% Syrah, with 20% each of
Grenache Noir and Mourvèdre. Pre-fermentation
maceration for all three varieties, but less for Mourvèdre. Syrah is picked first; Mourvèdre last. He blends as early as possible, before the
malo, and then the wine goes into barrel.
Good colour; quite firm ripe black fruit on nose and palate. A tannic streak balancing some rounded fruit. Youthful tannins. Ripe but fresh, even at 14.5⁰.
2013 Cotes du Roussillon, les Aspres, Barrique, named Serge after
his father – 12.90€
A higher percentage of Syrah as Charles
uses Syrah to top up his barrels. Deep
young colour, with quite firm tannins balanced by some elegant fruit. Black fruit and very stylish. Charles tastes each barrel, and ages the wine
according to his nose, probably twelve months for an older barrel and eight for
a newer one. He has changed coopers to
Nadalié
And then we turned our attention to
a vertical tasting of his cuvee Excellence, depicted by his grandfather Charles.
First off was 2007. Quite a cool year, like 2011. Nonetheless a heady 16⁰ but it simply didn’t taste like it. A selection parcellaire – 80% Syrah, with 10%
Grenache and 10% Mourvèdre, blended after élevage, which is six months in vat,
and bottled in the June following the harvest.
Elegant fruit, with appealing spicy Syrah. On the palate ripe black fruit. Silky tannins. Elegant and still youthful. Charles talked about the importance of a
selection parcellaire and commented that he tried to make as few mistakes as
possible in the cellar.
2009 – a hot vintage.
Medium colour. More solid and concentrated nose and palate,
though slightly lighter in alcohol at 15⁰. However, the tannins are less refined, riper
and furrier, but with some freshness on the finish. Charles explained that the pre-fermentation
maceration lasts four to eight days, depending on the vintage. He doesn’t work the tannins too much and
wants to avoid any bitterness. The fermentation
itself takes 6 – 20 days, controlled at quite a low temperature, with a gentle
start.
2010 – A fresher easier year, and a
little more quantity. Deep youthful
colour. Rich black fruit on nose and
palate. Very smooth rounded palate. Intense ripe fruit, with the tannins nicely
englobé, with a
ripe finish and a note of freshness on the finish Charles talk about microclimate. Nyls is quite a sheltered village so the
effect of the Tramontane wind is less than in some places. The vines are planted in galets roulées with
deep root systems.
2012 – We skipped 2011 as hail had affected
that vintage. This vintage is still very
closed with very good potential. A
firmer tighter knit nose and palate, with notes of mint and pepper. Very youthful with very good fruit. And of course these wines beg the question:
why no wood? ‘It is simply not
necessary’ retorted Charles, and I have to agree. He racks during the winter when the sediment
has drop and there is no fining and no cold treatment and just a light filter.
2013 – 19.90€
A finer year, more like 2007 or
2011 in style. Rich youthful nose, with some ripe cassis and on the rounded
ripe fruit, both red and black fruit, with supple ,but youthful tannins.. this wine undoubtedly has a sense of place,
combining modernity with fruit.
2014 – Quite
elegant similar to 2012, even though 16⁰. Charles took care not to overdo the extraction,
and blended just after the vinification in November and December. The wine went into vat until bottling in May.
Quite intense black fruit. Ripe and
rounded, rich and already extraordinarily ready for drinking, but with a long
life ahead. It shows Charles’ talent as
a light-handed wine maker. And as we
talked, the 2014 opened up, with more ripe fruit balanced by firm tannins,
making a very harmonious glass of wine.
You sense that Charles is a very focused very motivated winemaker. He tastes a lot and travels a lot. He does not consider himself to be new
school; and he is not ‘avec la lune et compagnie’. He likes ripe grapes and spends a lot of time
checking his vineyards and he talked about the importance of buvabilité, of drinkability and
the need for finesse and ripe fruit. And
his next project is a white wine. I
shall look forward to tasting it in due course.
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