Terres d'Hachene
Teresa d'Hachene - A discovery at the Decanter World Wine Awards
The results
of the Decanter World Wine Awards are published and last week Decanter hosted a
tasting of a selection of the medal winners.
I think the selection was a bit hit and miss, and depended solely on who
was prepared to contribute their wines.
Certainly I was hoping for a much bigger selection from the Languedoc,
and an opportunity to taste some of the wines selected by my fellow panel
chair, the French journalist Bernard Butschy.
From that point of view, I was disappointed. There was just one lone
Languedoc wine on a table of Syrah from around the world, so alongside wines
from the Maremma, Macedonia, Portugal and Spain. But this lone wine was a real discovery, from
a new estate, Terres d’Hachene, and from their first vintage, 2010. It was their Cuvée Ilex, a Pays de
Cevennes.
Terres
d’Hachene is outside the village of St. Nazaire-des-Gardies in the Gard, and
very much off the beaten track, especially if your particular bit of the
Languedoc is well west of Montpellier, as mine is. Looking at their web site, they make four
Pays de Cevennes, and this Cuvée Ilex, is an unusual blend 51% Syrah, 26% Petit
Verdot and 23% Grenache Noir. Not that
many people have Petit Verdot in the Languedoc; racking my brains the only
person I could think of is Marc Benin at Domaine de Ravanès in the Coteaux du
Murviel. The wine was rich and complex,
with a deep colour and quite a powerful spicy nose, and on the palate it had
rounded fruit and supple tannins, making for a very attractive balance. I think the Petit Verdot adds extra richness
and weight, but rather masked any pepperiness of the Syrah. I was told that it had spent 18 months in
barriques, from Taransaud and that 2010 was the very first vintage. What a debut.
It was a delicious and successful harmonious blend. Unfortunately the crowd at the tasting did
not allow for more questions, so I am promising myself a visit before too
long.
Comments