It was around 2006 that Gros and Tollot began scouting out vineyards across France for their new project. They set out to find mature, healthy vines in superb terroir that would naturally express the location. After two long years they discovered the perfect vineyard site in Minervois, situated in southern France’s expansive Languedoc appellation. The vineyard was planted to several grape varieties—Carignan, Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah—and most of the vines are very old, with some younger plots as well all averaging around thirty years of age. They chose the site not only because of this grape diversity, but also because of the special terroir. Coincidentally sitting at the exact same altitude as the Côte-d’Or’s beloved Vosne-Romanée, this vineyard site spoke to Gros and Tollot. With the astonishing soil composition: a combination of sandstone, clay and limestone, these vines had the potential of greatness written all over them—especially in the hands of these two remarkable vignerons. In 2008, the couple produced their first vintage from this site, and ever since, the wines have been spoken of as some of the best showing of Languedoc terroir that has ever been bottled.
In the vineyards, Gros and Tollot treat their vines with the same love and care that they do with their celebrated Burgundy vineyards. While they do not farm strictly organic, they emphasize natural farming as much as possible and restrict the use of non-organic products as much as possible. They thin the leaves during growth season to provide aeration and sun penetration, then harvest their miniscule yields by hand. The “La 50/50” is a blend of old vine Carignan and Cinsault with some younger vine Grenache. As far as red blends go, this is a lively wine has so many enchanting qualities that makes it is difficult to put down. Gros and Tollot have made this wine entirely in stainless steel to let the purity of the terroir to express itself, leaving a dangerously drinkable wine as a result. I must add this wine is actually classified as a Vin de Table. This is simply because they added more Carignan than the Minervois appellation allows, so rather than changing what they believe would make the best wine, they simply took the Minervois appellation and vintage off the bottle and named it “Lot 2012” Vin de Table.
The “La 50/50” has a vibrant, dark ruby and core that moves to magnificent hues of magenta on the rim. The nose is wonderfully fresh and floral with vibrant and slightly spicy aromas of blackberry, cranberry, red currant, black pepper, garrigue and a hint of fennel. The palate is also very fresh and snappy with a myriad of red, black and blue fruits, freshly-picked wild berries, pomegranate, cranberry, fresh rose petals, rustic minerality, lavender and fennel. This wine definitely needs a lot of air, so please decant it for a minimum of one hour before serving at 60-65 degrees in burgundy stem. If you’re up for spending some time in the kitchen,
a cassoulet would be an excellent pairing for this stunning wine. It is one of the great classic dishes of Southern France.
