From: Gaillac, France
Varietal: Duras
Taste: Black fruits like plum, blackberry, and dark cherry meet a dash of black pepper with an undertone of five spice and earth. Juicy and packed with flavor, this wine is a fantastic trio of fruit, earth, and spice in a bottle. It should be served slightly chilled.
Pairing: Anything off the grill, Mediterranean fare, stews, pot roasts, and for vegetarian (or frankly, any dish) meals go with dishes that incorporate kale, lentils, eggplant, mushroom, winter squash dishes, a hint of spice or citrus, herbs like thyme, rosemary, bay, paprika, cumin, saffron or za’atar. We’re sharing an easy weeknight recipe that’ll be a fantastic partner with this wine: Moroccan-Spiced Chicken Meatballs by Lidey Heuck.
Domaine Philémon is located in Villeneuve-sur-Vere, a small village on the Vere river in between Albi and Cordes in the northeast quadrant of the Gaillac appellation. The Vieules family have had a vineyard in Villeneuve since 1804. Today the vineyard is run by Mathieu Vieules who grows wheat, sunflowers and grapes in equal proportions. All of his land is farmed organically with the vineyard being certified in 2013. Mathieu Vieules has twenty hectares of vines in production along the Cordes plateau on south facing slopes with a calcerous soil. They are planted almost entirely to the traditional Gaillac grape varieties: Loin de L’oeil, Mauzac and Muscadelle for the whites, and Braucol (Fer Servadou), Duras and Jurancon Noir for the reds. A good proportion of the vines are more than fifty years old. The vines are trained in the gobelet fashion meaning that they are head pruned and yields are kept exceedingly low; 40 hl/h for the whites and 30hl/h for the reds. The harvest is done entirely by hand.
The cuvée 'Croix de la Bouscarie' is produced entirely in Duras, from a 20 hectare certified organic vineyard that's been run by the Vieules family since 1804. It is a wonderful expression of this grape variety not seen outside of Southwest France.
On the nose, the spice is evident, with a touch of violets and dried blueberry. On the palate we get dark berry fruit, fennel seed, good acidity, minerality that adds some depth, and firm tannins on the finish. Great with up to an hour of decanting.
Try it with:
Creamy mushroom pasta, foie gras, rack of lamb, lentils with roasted red peppers and tomatoes over rice, holiday meals.
