We usually place our order from the Mas Foulaquier in January, and by the time the wines arrive in March the earth has barely begun to awake from its winter slumber. This year the wines have arrived a month later, with Spring in full bloom.
Step into a breezy meadow or a shady forest, close your eyes, and breathe in — the smells and sensations are countless, complex, and awe-inspiring. Natural wines, when they’re made carefully, channel a little slice of nature’s limitless vitality like little else can. And nobody in our portfolio does this more skillfully than the Mas […]
The Languedoc is one of the world’s oldest winegrowing regions, tracing its history back to 125 BC. For many years it has been known for abundant, cheap, and uninteresting wine, but in recent decades a new wave of small winemakers has earned the region a new reputation.
As spring arrives and we begin to engage more with the natural world, we find ourselves more drawn to natural wines. When they’re made carefully, natural wines embody the exuberance and vitality of nature. And nobody in our portfolio does this more skillfully than the Mas Foulaquier.
The primary trend we see in French winemaking today is less intervention. Winemakers treat less in the vines, limit sulfur, and use wild, ambient yeasts for their fermentations.
“Natural” wines are hard to get right, but when they’re good they can be extraordinary. Mas Foulaquier’s cuvées are exceptional -- clean and well formed, marrying ripe fruit with earthy notes from their rugged terroir.
Winemaking has seen significant improvement over the last century. New treatments and measurements have given winemakers far more control over their craft. “Poor vintages” are now less common, but in the cheap many wines give up true expression for homogeneity.
The carignan varietal isn’t known for making sophisticated wines. Second only to Merlot plantings in France, Carignan covers enormous swaths of the southern third of the country. It’s known as an undistinguished, high yield grape, which can produce four times the volume of Pinot Noir on the same acre.
Springtime has returned. Baseball is back, green shoots are pushing through the dirt, and but for a freak snowstorm here and there we seem to be on the path to warmer weather. It’s not quite rosé season yet, but that’s not far off either.
“Natural” wines can be hard to get right, but when they’re good they can be extraordinary. The wines of the Mas Foulaquier are undoubtedly the finest and most consistent biodynamic reds in our portfolio. The cuvées are exceptionally clean and well formed, marrying ripe fruit with earthy notes from their rugged terroir.
Winemaking began in the Languedoc around 125 BC, and over the last two millennia, little has changed in the basic chemistry. Though the last century saw the advent of new chemicals and measurements, winemaking is still the combination of grapes, yeast, and time.
Harvests have begun around France this week. Next week the older half of the Ansonia team heads over to Burgundy for les vendanges in the Côte de Nuits. In the Languedoc, where the warm southern sun ripens the grapes earlier, the Mas Foulaquier’s harvest is well under way. Browse through their Instagram and you can almost smell the wild yeast…
The Languedoc is one of the world’s oldest winegrowing regions, tracing its history back to 125 BC. For many years it has been known for abundant, cheap, and largely uninteresting wine, but in the past few years the region has seen a renaissance. There is a new wave of small scale winemakers, many committed to low-intervention, “natural” styles of winemaking.…