Wine Travels with Dagny: 01.2014

From the busy A2 to a national road to a local bypass to a country road which turns into a cobblestone street as you enter Peyriac de Mer. 500 or so meters into town you come to the end of the road where Rue du Marche and Rue du Chemin Neuf meet. Stop and do not pass go...

On the immediate right is the ground floor of Les Clos Perdus

As I mentioned in our last blog, this was the best winery visit of our trip in the Languedoc. Unfortunately, I was on my own. Kara opted to stay with Ryker at the house and my mom was going to watch Dagny while I visited. From the start I had a feeling this was going to be something special. First of all this was a picturesque village on a lagoon south of Narbonne. Quiet and charming with all the typical fixings; great old homes joined together, a small city hall / town square with a clock tower.

We rolled in at the lull of the morning before lunch. I met Paul Old (co-owner) at the door which he was in the process of locking and we headed up to the first floor of the house (winery on the ground floor) around the corner. This was more like an in-law suite. As Paul explained, he and his partner (Hugo) live in the upper floors of the house with their two sons while the other floors are reserved for all that is Les Clos Perdus. Paul was joined by a friend and winemaker from Australia who was in town for the harvest. About an hour in Ben Adams (assistant) joined us.

So let's see... The tasting started with introductions and a bit of history about the journey. The journey is best described by the translation of Les Clos Perdus ("the lost vineyards"). Paul and Hugo have spent the better part of the last 10 years searching and securing the most obscure, remote, harsh, old, neglected, and difficult to work vineyards in the region. I don't think they did this as some sort of penance for past sins. This was something about preserving the past and harnessing the best of what nature offers. If you look at wine making in its purest forms it is about the fruit. Not much else. As a winemaker the most important part of the job is not to interfere with mother nature. This starts at harvest, through fermentation and maceration, to press, barrel, and then blend/bottling....

The tasting itself was over a couple of hours. Paul introduced me to the full line up of their wines plus a surprise here and there. The line up was approximately 10 wines, 7 or so which were red. More recently it looks like they have cut down the line up which I think is for the best. Not because they do not make wonderful wines but from my novice opinion, it allows focus and consistency. Plus I would think it becomes easier to market (though they really need none - I think I recall something like 80% of production is sold in France).

We started with a white. They offer 2, Le Blanc and L'Extreme. I actually didn't taste either. Instead I got to try a no label sold "exclusively" to a Japanese buyer white. I can't even tell you what was in it... But a great start! Since then, I did have a six pack shipped to Madrid of the Le Blanc to check it out. Yummy. This was a blend of Macabeo and Grenache Blanc. Both at 10 euro are a steal. Still enjoying the last few bottles of this!

White #1 - Recipe Unknown

We then moved into Le Rose, a nice dry and crisp rose from primarily Mouvedre and Cinsault. And not from pressed skins!!!

From here it was mix of reds from current and previous vintages. We started with Le Rouge (100% Grenache) and worked our way over to Mire La Mer (Mouvedre, Carignan, and Grenache). In between, La Prioundo (Grenache and Cinsault) and L'Extreme ("Hairy" Grenache and Syrah). The quote of the day... "Delicious" from Kara when we had a bottle of La Prioundo back in Madrid.