Domaine ANNE GROS & JEAN PAUL TOLLOT Minervois "La 50/50" 2018

Wine Region :Languedoc - France

Grape : Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre

 

Tasting note : There is a purity of the varietal associated with this plot that is unveiling an elegant personality, even in its youth. This is a balanced wine, very precise and thirst quenching, which goes well with roasted meats and charcuterie. A crystalline wine.

 

About the winery :

Daughter of Francois Gros, “the lady of Burgundy", Anne Gros has been in charge of her father estate since 1988 today renamed Domaine Anne Gros, she is famous for her outstanding red Burgundies especially her Grand Cru Richebourg. Jean Paul Tollot her husband is from the Tollot-Beaut Family in Chorey les Beaune and is renown for making the best wines out of the difficult terroir of the Chorey appellation. Together they decided to join their skills to make wine in the Minervois.

They purchased 14 hectares in Cazelles in the northern edge of the appellation of Minervois just before Saint Chinian, a very intriguing terroir made of limestone, clay and sand which exposure and altitude offers strikingly similar conditions to Vosnes Romanee Crus providing cooler temperature at night-time. They began their first vintage in 2008.

The estate grows the typical minervois varieties Carignan, Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault. The winegrower couple also chose the land in regard of its great old vines patrimony, with some century plots of Carignan and an overall average of 40 years old. The aim of this enterprise was to provide a new vision of Minervois with an emphasis on the terroir and on the individuality of each traditional grape variety.

The attention to the vineyards and the viticultural practices are similar to those they employed in Burgundy. The couple invested a lot in their Minervois facilities, they use the top equipments in their sophisticated winery, this technical effort was compulsory according to them if they wanted to reach a certain level of quality.

Their winemaking approach is very reminiscent of their work in Cote d'Or, with a total destemming of the grapes and a long aging in barrels for the top cuvees; they even use the traditional Burgundy bottle for their wines.

Tollot and Gros are making Minervois wines like no others in the area, wines that always bear a certain Burgundian signature, with very supple tannins and a delicate freshness of fruit. They have managed to make wonders out of the unjustly neglected grape of Carignan and Cinsault and found the perfect way to let it express the varietals full potential along with the singularity of the terroir.