ShowViniste The Citizen Wine Blog

Manuel Jorel-Franck speaks of the concept of extensivity and explains its difference in approach of the vine: "I work in extensive cultivation, ie I search the lowest yield: 15 hl / ha. Therefore, I do not use any chemicals and I try to intervene as little as possible in my vineyard. But it's limit. Be careful because with this ground stone, shale, low growing grass should not be too much competition. "Even if its slopes are quite steep and steep, it should plow between the rows. "The ideal would be to do with a mule. This is the animal best suited for what I do. The horse would be too powerful and it is much more complicated to maneuver. "

From its plot, in full scrubland, Mr. Jorel likes to tell his land , that of Maury, superb AOC located on the old frontier between Occitan and Catalonia, at the place where African and European plates were rides, there are over 100 million years. This explains such a variety of soil in this basin, with mainly shale, a sign of friction of the earth, granite further south in the hills and limestone casting, further north, at the foot of the famous castle Quéribus.

The vineyard Maury has the advantage of having been able to reproduce its grenache as possible by mass selection, ie grafted on the spot, not by planting clones. This is technical but perhaps know that it is a major asset to ensure the authenticity of this land that they want much. In Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet, in the cellar area, it would almost be required to caver to enter the lower part, under the house, in the village, back in 1620 in the old underground leading to the chapter Abbey. There sits a few religiously barrels, blackened by moisture. Nothing to do with modern winery where legions of bored barrels, all clean and sanitized. The wines are made without input, with the yeast of the grape and a minimum of sulfites.

Besides a delicious wine sweet natural in Maury AOC , I loved her Pétaillat, a 100% Grenache black key to turn on.