Fitou

One of the many blessings and sometimes a disturbing ordeal is the tasting of samples. Disturbing when you have researched and singled out specific wines that you have very high hopes for, and they dont´ deliver. A blessing when you discover the opposite.
I have had a few bad experiences from one of my recent favorite areas; Languedoc lately. The hardcore terroir approach seems to take some wines too far and render them fruitless and hard.
I love minerality in wine, to give the wine freshness, complexity, and that certain edge that makes the wine stand out. But I do not like when it happens on the expence of fruit.
I was reluctant to try the wines from Fitou. In Denmark the area have suffered from a somewhat bad reputation, if little knowledge of the style in winemaking. I was surprised.
Les Producteurs du Mont Tauch is by far the biggest Cooperativ in Fitou, and are responsible for half of the wines produced in the area. They have an enourmous range of wines.
I did not taste any plonk, but some of the lower end wines came close. But honest wines, fresh and clean . Mont Tauch produces some excellent wines as well. I was especially taken by their two cuveés Les Douze and Les Quatre. Both the result of the best twelve and the best four winegrowers grapes in a particular year. Here the expression terroir makes sense. They taste like nothing else. It´s a particular flavour, and it is great to experience that Carignan and Syrah tastes differently here than in Rhône and other areas in France. These are concentrated efforts, with a unique freshness and spicyness and with the minerality supporting the wine, giving it character. Both decidedly great wines that I hope to get a chance to introduce later on.

Cheers