2020 Domaine La Terrasse d'Elise Le Pigeonnier
WINEMAKER: Xavier Braujou
REGION: Languedoc, FR
VARIETAL: Carignan
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
"A hearing about this estate for many years, I found a bottle of this wine, 1997 vintage, in Sancerre of all places, and ordered a bottle. Well. that was it - I had to chase these wines down. Carignan can produce dilute rustic wines easily, it takes titanic work to produce wines of beauty and we can see what is possible with the incredibly beautiful wines Maxime Magnon makes in the Hautes Corbieres. My fist note on tasting this was - Super - it had a gleaming, deep colour, completely resonant with sultry aroma and complexity. It really is superbly fresh and juicy and will repay some time in the cellar." - Andrew Guard
One of the great discoveries for me so far are the wines of Xavier Braujou's La Terrasse d’Elise. Here we have an estate producing wines from a special terroir in the heart of the Terrasses du Larzac, his vines between those of Mas de Daumas Gassac and Granges des Peres, what a holy trinity. The land here is glacial scree on top of limestone and it imbues the wines with a freshness and clarity that is exceptional, these are Languedoc wines of uncanny finesse and elegance.
Xavier’s vision is simple “if the vineyard is clear and beautiful, the wines will be too”. He is following organic and biodynamic principals. The grapes are picked entirely by hand. In the cellar Xavier is as little interventionist as possible. The ageing is in old barrels or in stainless steel tanks. Ultimately here are wines that display an incredible suppleness and a beautiful richness on the palate.