Domaine Binet Jaquet
I had not seen Pierre Jaquet since I was researching The Wines of Faugères, so an update was well over due. Pierre has left his cramped cellar in the heart of the village of Faugères and is now working in new premises up a hill behind the village. The new cellar was finished for the 2021 harvest.
He reminded me how the estate had evolved. With his partner Olivier Binet, they planted their first vines in 2001 - just 2.5 hectares - with Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, obtaining the cuttings from Priorat in Spain, and the Syrah from the northern Rhone, with a density of 6200 vines per hectare. Then in 2007 they planted a further 4 hectares and also bought some old Carignan vines, so that they now have a total of nine hectares in 17 plots, with numerous small ilots, as Pierre described them. The Carignan vines are 80 and 100 years old. The vineyards already had hedges or they have planted hedges and also created a mare or smallish pond to recuperate water. It encourages the insects - but they have no problem with mosquitoes as there are plenty of frogs. And the wild boar do not eat their grapes as they find the water, so they fichent le paix aux raisins, or leave the grapes in peace, as Pierre put it. He wished other people would have ponds as it would help the eco-system.
His plots are determined according to grape variety, altitude, aspect, soil - the type of schist. The moment of picking is all important. Pierre pays great attention to maturity of the grapes, following the the ripening process very closely, and picking quite late, but not too late, and fast, which you can do with a small plot. All his vineyards are around the village of Cabrerolles, within the radius of a couple of kilometres. The vines are low bush vines about 30 cms high and he adds a lot of organic material, compost and manure, so that the vines can resist the drought. Yields average 25 - 30 hl/ha. And he vinifies à la bourguignonne, as he put it, with destalked grapes and a manual punch down. He uses a vertical basket press which is very gentle - le top. And in his cellar he has a variety of vessels, stainless steel vats of various sizes, concrete vats, jarres de grès, or sandstone amphora, also of various sizes, a concrete egg, and a recently purchased ceramic amphora. He has given up using terracotta amphora. And of course there are also some barrels. The terracotta made for too much oxidation, and did not ‘polish’ the wines as a barrel does. With concrete there is no oxidation at all; with the sandstone jarres about 1% oxidation, and the barrels 5%. And I spotted a tiny basket press - that’s for the Muscat if the birds leave any - il fait son petit job, and perhaps some experiments.
2005 was their very first vintage, with two wines, Tradition and Réserve, which was then 100% oaked, but no longer . Then they added Grande Réserve, and then a pure Mourvèdre. Grande Réserve was initially Mourvèdre and now it is mainly Carignan with much less oak. And in the vineyards they are biodynamic, and registered with Demeter.
They do not have any white varieties and Pierre criticises most white Faugeèes for its lack of acidity, so for 2023 they made a Réserve Blanc de Noir, from a pure Grenache Noir. Grenache does not have so much colour and they picked about ten days earlier than for the red wine and stopped pressing the grapes when the juice started to colour. They could have used charcoal to remove the colour, if necessary; if you do that before you ferment, you do not spoil the flavour of the wine.
2023 Reserve Blanc de Noir - 20.40€
Light colour, surprisingly light, considering that it does come from red grapes. 12 months in stainless steel vat, on some lees, which are not coloured either. Malo done.
A firm fresh palate. Quite juicy. A hint of white peaches. Good acidity. Slightly bitter finish, un joli amer.
With the 2024 vintage, a quarter of the blend is spending 12 months in sandstone amphora. For the moment Pierre considers it is all learning process.
Then we tasted 2024 from vat, which had a similar aroma but seemed richer and more rounded on the palate, with good acidity and satisfying texture and weight. It will be bottled in July.
More tasting from vat followed:
2024 Tradition, a blend of Cinsault and Grenache with some Carignan and Syrah and a little Mourvèdre. Given a four - five week maceration. Good stony spicey fruit. Balanced acidity and tannins. And lovely restrained fruit.
And then several examples of single varieties followed.
A Grenache from Cabrerolles, with lovely liqueur cherry fruit, and a fresh finish.
A pair of old Carignan, one 80 years old, which would probably be destined for the Réserve or even Grande Réserve depending on its development. Dark colour with firm dense fruit, and an elegant fresh finish. And then a 100 year old Carignan with more immediate red fruit.
Next came a Mourvèdre with red fruit and tight structure, and then two Syrah, one from a north facing vineyard, with a deep colour and dry cassis and pepper and tight knit tannins and a second that was more perfumed, with cassis rather than pepper on the nose. Pierre is very pleased with the 2024s. Une année de vigneron in the best sense of the word.
2023 Réserve ex vat will be bottled in the summer after two years in concrete. Grenache 40% 30% Syrah, 20% Carignan and 10% Mourvèdre. Good colour. Restrained fruit, slightly smoked, elegant and long. The wine has changed from ageing all in wood, to all in vat.
Grande Réserve from a sandstone amphora. From Carignan and Syrah, with a little Mourvèdre and Grenache. Pierre will blend it with 24% oak aged wine, 25% amphora, and 30% from an egg. So vaguely one third each. Smoky, mineral, good depth. elegance and length.
Pierre sees his wines as a pyramid of terroir and cépages, the higher you go, the more the terroir comes out. And an observation, that the rain erases the wine; if it is at all delicate, all the flavour closes down. I suppose that must be something to do with barometric pressure.
Grande Reserve de schiste - 2015 was the first vintage, and made from Carignan and Syrah, and then they decided to keep the Mourvèdre separately. so I tasted three vintages of pure Mourvèdre. No wood. Only in jarres for three years.
20024, 2023 and 2022. A detailed tasting note for each would be boring, but suffice it to say that there was elegant evolution of the flavours, with subtle tannins. And when I asked Pierre what the 2022 vintage was like he said bordelique -with reference to a bordel or compliqué because of the summer heat. The last three years have indeed been complicated, with a short plateau of maturity. The grapes are not ripe, and suddenly become ripe, and then overripe and if you miss the moment the flavours disappear. They use a sorting table, but 90% of the sorting is done in the vineyards. The 2022 will be bottled this summer and promises well with elegantly restrained mineral flavours and freshness
And we finished with a couple of bottles:
2023 Tradition - 16.00€
Ripe smoky fruit on nose and palate. Elegant freshness, length, balance between fruit and tannin.
2021 Réserve - 20.00€
Majority Grenache, with some Syrah and Carignan and a little Mourvèdre. Two years in concrete vats. From 2021 they use no more wood for it. Good colour. Restrained but good fruit. Elegant concentration. A youthful tannic streak. C’est pas mal, observed Pierre. I thought it was delicious.
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