2021 Domaine du Météore, Léonides Red Wine, AOP Faugères, France.
A big thank you to my Sommelier friend Ryan Cooley of Vin Vivant Wine Bar in Capitola and The Landing in Moss Landing for turning me on to this absolutely delicious Côtes du Rhône style red from the practicing and certified biodynamic Domaine du Météore, which is from France’s Faugères AOC in the Languedoc-Roussillon, near the Mediterranean Sea and set on hillsides overlooking a huge meteor crater, hence the name. Made from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, this deeply hued and aromatic Léonides Red Wine is a wonderful expression of these Rhône varietals with a core of spicy blue and red fruits, including boysenberry, blueberry, plum and wild strawberry, along with aromatic shrubs, violets, pepper, sun warmed rock, minty licorice and heady framboise, from the ripe Grenache. The Syrah enjoys the warm days and cooler nights and schist soils here, taking over the vinous and fleshy full bodied palate, but it is nicely balanced with savory elements and just the right amount of lifting acidity to keep things fresh, with the Mourvèdre giving structured tannin and an earthy dimension. Sometimes a quaffable, simple and authentic wine is called for, and this Domaine du Météore more than fulfilled the needs of a Wednesday night with cured ham and pizza on the menu. 100% de-stemmed, the all organic grapes see an extended four week maceration and then the pressed juice is tank fermented and raised 28 months to develop full character before release.
The Faugères is an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée region in the Languedoc-Roussillon set west of Montpellier in France’s mostly unspoiled Southwest and is named after the town of Faugères, which lies 30 km north of Béziers, in the foothills of the Massif Central, in the département of Hérault. This area is planted mainly to Rhône varietals and to be included in the official Faugères the wine must contain a combination of Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah for red and rosé wines. The Faugères AOC, which only got its status for Rosé and Red Wines in 1982, sees a warm Mediterranean climate and cooling almost Mistral like breezes and the soil is mainly composed of schist. Doing a bit a research, confirmed that this schist is metamorphic rock, the result of excessive pressure on clay deposits during the Paleozoic Era and of the formation of the Massif Central to the North. The schist is characterized or known for its capacity to retain large amounts of water, which can be up to a third of its volume and its heat-storing properties, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night. This has led to Faugères winemakers saying that their grapes ripen overnight! In the Middle Ages this region was not noted for wine production, and most was only for the locals to enjoy themselves, as there was much more interest in olives and grains at the time, but now there’s some fabulous under the radar wines being made here, like this one from Domaine du Météore, which is uniquely transparent and super tasty and I highly recommend checking it out.
($18 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive