To all Best Winers,
When it came time to belly up to the Chateau de la Negly booth at Vinisud last year we were hoping to see some fireworks. Of course we were going to get a tasting (drinking?) of the famed La Porte du Ciel from this estate as well as Jeffrey Davies’ cult classic, Clos des Truffiers, two wines that enjoy a healthy fan base including Bob Parker and Manfred Krankl of Sine Qua Non. But we were also really interested in seeing the progress of Negly’s other wines and thought for sure that that part of our tasting was where the real energy was going to emerge. As the wine gods would have it, we were wrong.
The real stars of the show as it turned out were a couple of shockers from Domaine De Boede, Negly’s sister property. Boede is literally right next door to La Negly, Negly’s proprietor, Jean Rosset, having farmed the vineyards since 2001. In 2006, Jean and star winemaker/consultant Claude Gros purchased the property and now the wines are made by the same winemaking team at the Negly facility.
Our first eye-opener was Boede’s 2010 Pavillon. Previously, this label was used specifically for a rosé bottling from this property but starting in 2010 they decided to craft an everyday, vin rouge using the same name and what a delightful little stunner this turned out to be. It is sourced from a small 10 acre parcel of 30+ year old vines and all hand-harvested. We were caught off guard by its dense color, seen as the wine is comprised mostly of Cinsault (80%, the balance Syrah), which is the secret weapon of many a great pink wine from the south.
Boede must have some damn fine Cinsault because the energy, punch and vibrancy here had our ‘drink’ senses on overload. Fresh, dark, easy, spicy, meaty, Pavillon reminds us of an easier-going, upscale, Syrah-based northern Rhone (Crozes?) but at half the price! It’s a wine that makes us smile and an incredible value…
Then things got heavy. Boede’s 2009 Coteaux du Languedoc Les Gres found its way to the table. Serious wine here. People stopped talking…and started tasting. Noses dug into the glasses. Much thinking. The blend of mostly Grenache and Syrah, with some Mourvedre and Carignan, managed to illicit some hushed “whoa’s” and the occasional “goodness!” from the group.
Les Gres has that ‘thing’ we’ve talked about before, power married to refinement with a healthy dollop of complexity, which equals… “whoa!” Aging only in tank and demi-muid (larger barrels) has really let the garrigue-laced terroir shine. Smoke, meat, lavender, plum, black cherry, you can really get lost in this one.
No wonder that David Schildknecht, in his Wine Advocate 91 point review of Les Gres, noted that, “For all of its fullness and its considerable underlying tannin, ample fresh fruit and invigorating salinity render this anything but ponderous or muscle-bound. The finish here is a real gusher and the delights of this impressive Boede bottling apt to persist for at least 6-8 years.”
The Languedoc is primed to rise again…and Domaine De Boede is one of the few special estates that will be leading the charge. When you’re talking about an $11 wine made by the winery that produces, among other things, two of the Languedoc’s greatest red wines, how can you go wrong?
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Kyle Meyer and Tristen Beamon, Proprietors, BestWinesOnline.com
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