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CLOS MARIE
Christophe Peyrus took over his family’s vineyards in 1991. Prior to this, his father had sold the grapes to a local cooperative. From that point on, he sought council with some of the greatest winemakers in France (Didier Dagueneau, Clos Rougeard, Grange des Pères, etc) and now the French wine press considers his winery to be at the top of the appellation. The twenty hectare (50 acres) property is situated in and around the village of Lauret, north of Montpellier and the vineyards are scattered around the terraces that rise from the village up to the sharp cliffs that form part of the plateau of the Hortus mountain. The soils are clay and chalky limestone, and all of the vineyards are continuously plowed to force the vines’ roots to seek nourishment deep down in the limestone bedrock. The domaine has been farmed using biodynamic principles since 2000, and no pesticides or herbicides have ever been used. The harvest is done manually. Yields for the various cuvees vary between 15-35hl per hectare.
"Christophe Peyrus and Francois Julien had only recently assembled the majority of their 2007 reds when I tasted with them in December, and that collection is as exciting as past experience with Clos Marie and recognition of the potential of this vintage would lead one to expect. 'Ripeness came early and homogeneously,' says owner-winemaker Peyrus. 'The harvest was very rapid, and the evolution of the wines has been precocious.' Yet even under these conditions, potential alcohol seldom exceeded 14.5% even for the blocks of Grenache, a circumstance Peyrus attributes to his biodynamic methods of cultivation. He is also a partisan of vendange entier (the inclusion of whole clusters in red wine fermentation – in his case generally at least 50%) and says the stems were thoroughly ripe (i.e. lignified) in 2007. It’s a measure of the excitement that within fifteen years, this estate has ascended from obscurity to the top echelon of French wine addresses. There is never a lot of new wood in this dripping-wet cellar, although much of what there is, interestingly, comes from Austrian barrel-maker Franz Stockinger. (The 2007 reds had never been sulfured when I tasted them – that happens here only at bottling, and then only very judiciously.)" - David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate
Wines Offered
Clos Marie Coteaux du Languedoc Les Glorieuses Pic Saint Loup 2007 - WA (96-97) points BUY »
Clos Marie Coteaux du Languedoc L'Olivette Pic Saint Loup 2008 BUY »
Clos Marie Coteaux du Languedoc Manon Pic Saint Loup 2005 BUY »
Clos Marie Coteaux du Languedoc Metairies du Clos Pic Saint Loup 2007 - WA (93-94+) points BUY »
Clos Marie Coteaux du Languedoc Simon Pic Saint Loup 2007 - WA (92-93) points BUY »
