2009 Causse Marines Marcillac

2009 Causse Marines Marcillac Rouge

It’s time for another Fer Servadou….that curious wee grape variety from Sout-West France that also goes by the local name of Mansois.

This time it is a 100% Fer Servadou from the Marcillac appellation, North-East of the city of Toulouse and just to the West of the village of Languiole where those snazzy wine knives that I keep loosing hail from.

Marcillac was granted AOC status in 1990 and today there are around 170 ha under vine…..back in 1870 there was something like 5,ooo ha under vine. The soils here are ferrous and many of the vineyards are planted, terraced, on very steep slopes a soil type called rougier….an iron-rich red clay that lies over limestone.

It’s a red and rose wine appellation in the North-West of the Aveyron region and consists of the following communes….Balsac, Clairvaux-d’Aveyron, Goutrens, Marcillac-Vallon, Mouret, Nauviale, Pruines, Salles-la-Source, Saint-Christophe-Vallon, Saint-Cyprien-sur-Dourdou and Valady.

The wines of this region are similar stylistically to Cahors….deep colours and flavours, plenty of earthy minerality and pretty broody little buggers….just like me

The fine folks behind Domaine de Causse Marines are Virginie Maignien and Patrice Lescarret and you will find their delicious, earthy wines on many a hipster wine-bar list from New York to Paris. The domaine was purchased in 1993 and initially consisted of 8 ha of vines which has since grown to 15 ha stretching across both the Marcillac and Gaillac AOC’s.

The yields off the biodynamically farmed vineyards are very low here….everything is hand-picked and hand-sorted, natural yeast ferments, no filtration and very low sulphur use.

The front label of the clown is great but on the back label is a wee badger in a circle with a cross through it…..not sure what that means but I’m sure we can all agree that badgers are nothing but trouble!

Quite deeply coloured in the glass….slightly turbid with a deep purple/red hue.

Aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant and plum with some blueberry and redcurrant high tones. It’s moody on the nose with hints of deep, dark spices….clove and nutmeg predominately with aromas of capsicum, garrigue, dark, bitter chocolate, roasted meats and wood smoke. There is certainly a sense of wildness on the nose which is very appealing.

In the mouth the wine is broody and rustic with an initial wash of deep, concentrated blackberry and plum fruit flowing into a mid-palate showing hints of garrigue, cooking chocolate, deep spice, earth with a touch of bitter black olive and orange rind. It’s medium to full-bodied in stature with an energetic seam of minerally acidity scorching through the centre of the wine. Plenty of structure in the way of a raft of gravelly tannins too….all in all, a very enjoyable, rustic wine from the South-West which has plenty of concentration and interest.

It does open up a little reductive, so some airtime in a decanter is recommended…..but that dissipated quickly and with wine opened up nicely in no time at all.

Price: $30 – Closure: Cork – Alcohol: 13.5% – Source: Sample – Importer: Terroir Wines

A lot of stuff goin on...like eating bacon and smoking a dart at the same time.