Learn(ed) Me Something: 2009 Causse Marines Marcillac

L

lars makie

lars makie
First of all, I could sit and smell this forever; I love this wine. It's deep and earthy, peppery and meaty. All rolling around getting busy on the ground together. Second of all, I could drink this all night long (an am going to do my best to make sure that happens). Mouth watering, snappy, spicy, dark berries, tannins, acid; the only thing wrong with it is that I'm not eating any (grilled) meat right now. But, thirdly, I have almost no clue as to anything about this wine and producer. The only thing I can glean is that the Marcillac is made from the Fer Servadou grape and that it's a fairly new wine for Causse Marines.

This was the stand-out, knock-me-on-my-ass wine for me at the most recent LDM tasting a month or so ago. Not to say there weren't other things that weren't note-worthy (like the Preambulles from the same producer, the new Francis Boulard Champagnes they're bringing in, the Aglianico from Giardino, etc), but this one just took me completely by surprise. I don't think I'd ever had anything like it, certainly not a Marcillac (huh?).

So, I just went through the "Search Disorder" and "Let Me Google That" phase of trying to find out more about this wine/producer (not to mention the Lou Dressner site, which has a dead link for Causse Marines BTW). I happened to stumble upon the Causse Marines site itself, but that is a bit tricky to navigate, the English version isn't happening and the Marcillac isn't even listed with the cuvées. Anyway, dearest Disorderlies, can anyone shed more light on this incredibly soulful wine for me? Are other Marcillacs worth searching for? Can they age and is it worth it? What is the soil these grow in like?

Please and thank you.
 
originally posted by lars makie:

So, I just went through the "Search Disorder" and "Let Me Google That" phase of trying to find out more about this wine/producer (not to mention the Lou Dressner site, which has a dead link for Causse Marines BTW). I happened to stumble upon the Causse Marines site itself, but that is a bit tricky to navigate and the English version isn't happening. Anyway, dearest Disorderlies, can anyone shed more light on this incredibly soulful wine for me? Are other Marcillacs worth searching for? Can they age and is it worth it? What is the soil these grow in like?

Please and thank you.
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First of all, I'm on board (or is that bored?) with you on the Causse Marines Marcillac, though my experience is with the '08. There's been a fair amount of discussion about Marcillac here the past few years. In addition to Causse Marines, the Dom. du Cros Marcillacs get a lot of love hereabouts. Lyle Fass has also written about it over on his blog (Rockssandfruit), but I don't know how much producer information you'll be able to glean from any of those sources.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
First of all, I'm on board (or is that bored?) with you on the Causses Marine Marcillac, though my experience is with the '08. There's been a fair amount of discussion about Marcillac here the past few years. In addition to Causses Marine, the Dom. du Cros Marcillacs get a lot of love hereabouts. Lyle Fass has also written about it over on his blog (Rockssandfruit), but I don't know how much producer information you'll be able to glean from any of those sources.
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Thanks Mark. Yeah, I found Lyle's post about the '08 and that's where I found out that the Marillac was new for Causse Marines (actually from Kevin's comment; maybe he could chime in here, too). I also saw the favorable mentions here about Domaine de Cros, too. But didn't see much info other than tasting notes and while helpful, I'd love to hear a little more. Have you had Marcillacs from both? Similarities?
 
originally posted by lars makie:
originally posted by MLipton:
First of all, I'm on board (or is that bored?) with you on the Causses Marine Marcillac, though my experience is with the '08. There's been a fair amount of discussion about Marcillac here the past few years. In addition to Causses Marine, the Dom. du Cros Marcillacs get a lot of love hereabouts. Lyle Fass has also written about it over on his blog (Rockssandfruit), but I don't know how much producer information you'll be able to glean from any of those sources.
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Thanks Mark. Yeah, I found Lyle's post about the '08 and that's where I found out that the Marillac was new for Causse Marines. I also saw the favorable mentions here about Domaine de Cros, too. But didn't see much info other than tasting notes and while helpful, I'd love to hear a little more. Have you had Marcillacs from both? Similarities?
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No, I haven't had a Marcillac from Cros yet, though I intend to change that soon. From what I've read, your impressions of the Causse Marines are pretty typical for Fer Servadou from Marcillac. Someone like VLM or Levi can probably provide you with more detail regarding qualitative differences between the two producers' Marcillacs.

Mark Lipton
 
Lars, check this out:

Loading…

www.wineterroirs.com

Go down towards the end, or search within for Causse.

The Mystere was at the Flor dinner. It was highly distinctive, I thought. Fruitier than a lot of the other wines that were at that dinner.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Lars, check this out:

Loading…

www.wineterroirs.com

Go down towards the end, or search within for Causse.

The Mystere was at the Flor dinner. It was highly distinctive, I thought.
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Now we're starting to get somewhere. Thanks Levi. Before I came back here and refreshed the site, I was at wineterroirs, but I had just searched for Marcillac and didn't really get anything. But, this helps a little bit in learing about the people behind the scenes. Still would love to find out about vine age, soil, etc. The geeky shit. The DP's commentary track on a Criterion Collection DVD level information.
 
I've loved the 2008 Causse-Marines Marcillac, and Domaine du Cros's wines as well.

In his South-West France: The Wines and Winemakers, Paul Strang covers Causse-Marines but doesn't offer any information on the Marcillac specifically. The domaine is actually located in Gaillac, where Patrice Lescarret, the domaine's proprietor and vigneron, is apparently widely respected. He is especially admired for his sweet wines made from Ondenc.

There is a section in Strang on Marcillac. He profiles several other domaines besides Cros, including Le Vieux Porche, Domaine des Costes Rouges, Domaine Laurens, and Domaine du Mioula, I've seen and had Laurens's Marcillac (it's ok, nowhere near as good as Cros or Causse-Marines), but never the others. Strang is especially fond of Cros and Le Vieux Porche.

Strang's book is very handy and very much worth having if you like the wines of the South-West.
 
Ok, I just read through Strang's bit on Marcillac. Turns out Lescarret is consulting winemaker at Domaine du Mioula, so it seems likely that is where he gets his grapes. Apparently Lescarret would have liked to buy the domaine himself.

While nearly all of Marcillac was devastated by phylloxera and had to be replanted and grafted to American rootstocks, Mioula's owner Bernard Angles claims that a few of his vines are franc de pied. The oldest of the newer vines are 30+ years. Some of Mioula's vines are planted in chalky soil high up on the causse, above the level of the iron-rich soils that characterize Marcillac.
 
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
Ok, I just read through Strang's bit on Marcillac. Turns out Lescarret is consulting winemaker at Domaine du Mioula, so it seems likely that is where he gets his grapes. Apparently Lescarret would have liked to buy the domaine himself.

While nearly all of Marcillac was devastated by phylloxera and had to be replanted and grafted to American rootstocks, Mioula's owner Bernard Angles claims that a few of his vines are franc de pied. The oldest of the newer vines are 30+ years. Some of Mioula's vines are planted in chalky soil high up on the causse, above the level of the iron-rich soils that characterize Marcillac.
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Very cool. Thanks for this, Zachary. I'm not familiar with Strang or his book, but next time I see my local pusher I'll see if he has it to borrow. Thanks again.
 
No problem.

Lescarret is also apparently quite a character. His belief in Ondenc as a great sweet-wine grape is rather unusual, and his other wines have sufficiently challenged the prevailing view of what AOC Gaillac wines should be like that he has several times been refused AOC status. His irreverent response has been to invert the grape name for his varietal wines, such as Dencon (for Ondenc), Zacmau (Mauzac), Rasdu (Duras), etc. And of course the Mystre sous-voile wine is certainly an oddity in Gaillac.

I've had the Dencon once, and it was quite nice, very floral and fairly rich in body.
 
In 1993, Patrice Lescarret started working 8 hectares (now 12) with the clear intention to honor the indigenous grapes of Gaillac. All their vines, from before World War II, have been grafted in place and the new plantations come from slection massale. The domaines name is derived from the word for limestone plateau on which it is located, called a Causse, and the stream named Marines which runs at the bottom of the property. Grapes are harvested by hand, and raised and vinified without chemicals. Some wines are free of added sulphites.

This wine is made from Braucolalso known as Fer Servadou.
 
originally posted by Joe Dressner:
Forgot to mention the estate rigorously follows the teachings of jocular biodynamie.
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Don't know if I want to know where the cow horn ends up in that method.

But, no matter what teachings they follow, I hope they keep it up, because everything I've tasted from them so far has been top drawer.
 
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
originally posted by Joe Dressner:
Forgot to mention the estate rigorously follows the teachings of jocular biodynamie.
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As opposed to geekular?
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There is amusing prose on the back labels and also a graphic of a badger with a line struck through it. Some of the labels have a clown-like face on them, which freak my wife out a bit.

Ondenc--I've only had three: one from Plageoles (sweet), one from Auques (less sweet), and in Lescarret's white blend (dry). Galet once commented that he thought ondenc-based Gaillac doux could match Sauternes--I think Plageoles's Vin d'Autan is very good.

Lescarret's Rasdu is an exciting wine, and I think it shows what the Duras grape can do. Joe, do you know when the 09 vintage of this wine will be available?
 
Lou: I'm out of the loop in the cancer ward. I don't know when the 2009s are coming in.

Anyhow, they are probably sold out like all other 2009s.

Although he doesn't have Marcillac, I also highly recommend wines from Plageoles, a great producer with great dedication, creative and originality in Gaillac.
 
Just got an reply from Mr. McKenna this morning in reply to an email I sent him asking for any more info on the Causse Marines Marcillac that he might have. He was nice enough to get in touch with Virginie at the winery who in turn was also nice enough to answer my geekular questions.

First, it is Domaine du Mioula who own the vines in Marcillac that Causse Marines get their grapes from and is where Patrice Lescarret is the consulting winemaker. And what is interesting is that the soil there is "more limestone and not [the] red ground which is very specific to Marcillac". It's all Fer Servadou that goes into the bottle, though the people there call it Mansois.

As for the age of the vines, she says that the ones that go into the bottle that LDM bring in are between 10 and 30 years old. The ones that are 30+ (and up to 100+) years old go into a special cuvée that I believe only Mioula sells. In answer to the question if they are organically farmed, Virginie says that "The vines haven't the organic certification but there is a hard work in the vines to be on the organic way (we hope it will be the next step)". And being very, very honest she says that "there is still one treatment for insects (against "cicadelle") and until 2010 they used some grasskillers just under the plant. We are trying to impulse an organic way of working but it is still difficult to understand in this region". From my understanding, this information only relates to their Marcillac bottling and their Gaillac is actually demeter certified.

Many thanks go out to Kevin for helping a poor dude out and to Virginie for taking the time to candidly answer my questions. It all just helps in understanding a wine I totally adore.
 
I just tasted the latest wines (unfortunately my tasting sheet is at home), but I enthusiastically agree with the praise bestowed on this domaine. Virginie is a lovely, intelligent young lady whom I most enjoyed tasting with yesterday. The entire line was astonishing, including the Mercillac, yet it's the Preambulles that is most prominent in my toughts this morning.
 
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