2022 Domaine de Fontsainte, Corbières Rouge, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
The Fontsainte Rouge, a blend of 60% Carignan, 30% Grenache Noir and 10% Syrah is deep purple/garnet in the glass with some rustic earthiness, but with good fruit density, showing off a rounded full palate of dark berry fruit, spice, leather, anise and violet laced florals. Simple, supple and non pretentious, this is exactly what the doctor ordered on the night. Corbières, as mentioned before in my reviews, is an AOC of the Languedoc-Roussillon in the south of France, which is kissed by sea breezes from the Mediterranean and is warmly sun soaked, it is a terroir that remains largely overlooked, but can make for some incredible wines, especially the reds made from old vine Carignan, along with a mix of other Rhône varietals, and Domaine de Fontsainte is one of the best estates to start a journey into these Corbières region wines. As a side note, I’ve been drinking the Fontsainte Gris de Gris since the early 2000s and a Summer season is not complete without going through a few bottles. Coming from grapes grown on southeastern facing slopes set on silica, clay, limestone and gravelly soils with large galets (round stones), not unlike Châteauneuf du Pape, this wine is a great value and was a perfect Winter night red with robust cuisine. The Domaine de Fontsainte is certified Haute Valeur Environnementale for its farming practices, which means it uses organic and sustainable methods and promotes the life and protection of the biodiversity here, including the flora and fauna in the vineyard and microbial life in the soil.
Producer Bruno Laboucarié’s Domaine de Fontsainte, imported by Kermt Lynch, was originally founded back in 1971 and started with a collection of ancient vines and with a family winemaking history that dates back to the 17th century in the region. Again, as mentioned before in prior reviews, importer Kermit Lynch says the first vineyards at Domaine de Fontsainte, in the Corbières appellation of the Languedoc-Roussillon, were in fact originally planted by the Romans. He adds that artifacts found in these vineyards, such as an old coin dating from the time of Marcus Agrippa in 25 A.D., are a testament to its antiquity. The original domaine was built around a thermal spring, which was later named for the local, twelfth-century patron saint, Saint Siméon, hence the Fontsainte name. Going on Kermit says the vines her for the Domaine de Fontsainte, Corbières Rouge, includes Carignan vines planted in 1950, Grenache in 1986, Syrah in 1991, while the Corbières Rouge “Réserve La Demoiselle” one of the top bottling here, saw a Carignan parcel planted in 1904, the oldest on the estate. For the Rouge, seen here, the Grenache and Syrah are 100% de-stemmed by hand and saw maceration and fermentation done traditionally, while the Carignan went through carbonic maceration in sealed tank. Overall the fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled vats for 14 days and then the wine rests in vat for six months and then in used French oak barrels for close to another six months. The results here at Fontsainte speak for themselves in the bottle and I highly recommend the wines here, especially the Rosé, and this basic Rouge, which definitely over deliver in the price to quality scale.
($18 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive