Mary Taylor Coteaux de la Cabrerisse 2022 750ml

Winemaker Anne Sarda and her team perform all their vineyard work by hand. The Carignan vines, some of which are up to 60 years old, are grown as bush vines at an altitude of 130 meters. This requires hand harvesting and results in low yields of 30 hectoliters per hectare. The climate is dry, and the vines struggle in the stony soils, which are too stony to even plant cover crops. The landscape is wild and rural, yet stunning and natural. No pesticides, herbicides, or irrigation are used, and the estate is HVE Level 3 Certified.

After the intensive labor in the vineyards, Anne employs a delicate touch in the cellar. The wine's journey continues with spontaneous fermentation by native ambient yeasts in large concrete tanks, ten days' maceration, and aging in old concrete vessels that are at least 60 (and up to 105 years!) old. The wine is not fined, just lightly filtered, and an infinitesimal 2 g/hl of sulfur is added right before bottling.

Saint Laurent de la Cabrerisse is one of the five municipalities that qualify for the small Coteaux de Cabrerisse IGP. Anne's rendition of it, expressing all the character of those old Carignan vines on stony soils, is intense and pure.