Domaine des Enfants 2018 "Le Jouet" Vin des Pays Des Côtes Catalanes AOC

The Wine

This blend of  Carignan, Grenache, Syrah and the obscure grape Lladoner Pelut yields a wine that features dark fruit notes with a smoky backbone from the vineyard's schist soils. A very quaffable wine offering a nice freshness and pleasing ripe fruit notes. A nice burgers-n-BBQ wine or with meat or roast poultry in a more elegant environment. 

Best when slightly chilled (just 55-60 degrees, don't go overboard!), 14.5% ABV with good acidity (3.5 g/l) and residual grape sugars (1.4 g/l) - below the level of human perception but still enough to add a bit of body.

The vines behind these wines are between 30 and 60 years old, well beyond the point at which most growers replace these aging dotards in favor of more youthful and vigorous replacements! But Dom des Enfants, despite a bias its name might suggest, continues to support and nurture these old vines for one reason - quality. Though they produce less, the fruit is more complex and concentrated. See for yourself!

Schist, Granite, Gneiss, Terra Rossa limestone at 650 – 1,000 feet above sea level.

Each variety in this blend was fermented separately using indigenous yeast in cement tanks. The wines are then blended to create the most synergistic wine possible, then left for about 1 year in a neutral tank to soften and integrate. About a third of the blend is Grenache from the youngest vines, picked early and fermented by carbonic maceration (amplifying this grapes natural hight-toned red fruit notes) before blending into the rest of the wine for ageing.

The Winery

The Domaine des Enfants was founded in 2006 by Swiss-born Marcel Bühler and Native Oregonian Carrie Sumner. It consists of 62 acres of old vineyards of Carignan, Grenache, Syrah and the obscure grape Lladoner Pelut. Each is planted on different soils (schist, granite, gneiss and limestone) and altitudes around the small village of Maury in Roussillon.

All vineyard practices are by hand and by horse, and the vineyards are certified organic. In the cellar, Carrie and Marcel strive to preserve the characteristics of the different terroirs and the finesse and aroma of each variety by interfering as little as possible with the natural processes. All their wines are fermented with natural yeast and vinified without any additives.