Terrasses du Larzac Les Clapas Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette
This is one that I know you will like. We poured it at the tasting table when Julien and Delphine were here in November, and it sold out within an hour, in all three stores.
The estate is only six years old, but the Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette has already attracted the attention of the top sommeliers in France. Les Clapas is featured at the Hotel de Crillon, at Joël Robuchon, and at Pierre Gagnaire in Paris; and at Michel Bras in Laguiole, which is arguably the greatest restaurant in France.
It also happens to be a perfect red wine for the summer: succulent and full-bodied, but surprisingly refreshing, with fine limestone minerality, and welcome natural fruit acidity. The only problem is that it’s hard not to pour the second and third glasses…and the bottle seems a little too small.
Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette:
Julien Zernott was already a star when he and his wife Delphine Rousseau found these ancient terraced vineyards at the foot of the plateau du Larzac, where the Massif Central crumbles down onto the plain leading to the Mediterranean. As the technical director at Domaine Henri Pellé in Ménetou Salon, he was one of the Loire Valley’s top winemakers. It’s no surprise that he likes vibrant, mineral wines.
But the Loire was too crowded for Delphine, who wanted to raise her growing family in quieter surroundings. Here, in a place where time seems to have stood still for a hundred years, the nearest village is Pégairolles-de-l’Escalette, which has a population of 144.
But it was the “clapas” – the low retaining walls that zigzag through the terraced vineyards, built a hundred and fifty years ago of dry flat stones – that grabbed Julien’s imagination. And of course, the possibility of this wine: a co-fermented field blend of ancient bush-trained Carignan, with the rare and mostly abandoned Aramon and Alicante Bouschet, fleshed out with Grenache and hundred year-old Cinsault.
This wine:
In the glass, the wine has a beautiful garnet color. The aromatics are pure garrigue; with lavender, crushed dried violets, and red currants. On the palate, there is a lovely core of sweet red fruit that puts on weight as the wine evolves in the glass. The satiny finish is bright and mineral, with fine, silky tannins and fresh acidity. Drink now for the primary fruit, or keep for six to ten years.
As always at Moore Brothers, this wine was selected in a personal relationship with an extraordinary producer, and was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers.
Imagine: you could drink it with a civet de sanglier en croûte sauce faugéroise at Restaurant L’Arbousier in Lamalou-les-Bains, about 35 km from Julien and Delphine’s home in Pégairolles de l’Escalette, or you could drink it this weekend with a cheeseburger off the grille, and it will be just as fresh and compelling and delicious.
I thank you again for your continued support of these dedicated stewards of our viticultural heritage.