Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number

Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number 2021 - Les Bories Jefferies

€34
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Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number
  • Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number
  • Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number
Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number 2021 - Les Bories Jefferies

Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number 2021 - Les Bories Jefferies

Carignan, Cinsault · France · 75cl

€34
In stock

Pickup available at 3 Cornmarket Street

Usually ready in 2-4 days

Where black is the Colour, Where none is the Number 2021 - Les Bories Jefferies

3 Cornmarket Street

Pickup available, usually ready in 2-4 days

3 Cornmarket Street
Cork
CO
T12 X9Y9
Ireland

Carignan and Cinsault harvested together from Joe’s plot on villafrachian soils littered with basalt scree. Six days of whole bunch fermentation, before pressing off to finish fermentation in tank. The wine was then racked to age for one year in tank, before a further 2 years in old oak casks.

A luxuriant nose with black cherry, currants, and minerals. In the mouth, everything feels round and integrated, owed to the longer time in wood. Supple fruit volume, salinity, citrus, and bitter herbs in a complex structure of fine tannins, minerality, and acidity. Sublime from Joe!

The producer

Joe’s introduction to wine came via legendary vigneron Bernard Bellahsen, from whom Joe bought bread at a local market. When the opportunity to take charge of 3 hectares of vines from his father-in-law presented itself, encouragement from Bernard, along with Julien Peyras and Antony Tortul of la Sorga, emboldened Joe to accept.

He went back to study winemaking in Montpellier, and despite the guidance of his well-seasoned mentors, initially worked with an oenologist and made wines to ‘the Languedoc recipe’. Robust, bold, reds with big tannins and high alcohol conformed to the status quo, and whites that received filtration and generous sulfitage. Growing frustrated with his inability to find the unique terroir of Caux in his wines, and endless arguments with the oenologue on his books, Joe began to practice the methods of his early mentors, ceasing debourbage post press, filtration, sulfitage, and, scandalously, began vinifying the reds with carbonic maceration. In the vines, the work is far beyond the requirements of organic, and his treatments in the vines are minimal and preventative rather than responsive.

After 12 years, Joe’s wines have become definitive of the new Languedoc, utterly elegant and vital while retaining the Mediterranean soul and ripe fruit of southern France. They are remarkable wines that detail the breadth of possibilities one can uncover in the Languedoc.

The place

This 0.7 hectare plot is on smooth quartz pebbles that once formed a riverbed where these vines grow. The basalt comes from the Volcan des Baumes, an extinct volcano that erupted 1.5 million years ago, scattering loose chucks of basalt around Caux. On these soils the yields of Carignan are low, and Joe’s use of whole-bunch fermentation reveals its hidden finesse and complexity. The Cinsault brings an elegant fruitiness and mineral density that brings the concentration of carignan into balance. The name of the cuvée is from Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, something winegrowers in the south find themselves hoping all too frequently these days.

Grapes: Carignan, Cinsault

Region: Caux, Languedoc, France

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