France – Castel de Brames Serena Cépage Oublié 2014

Domaine and vineyard

The Domaine Castel de Brames is located in the small village of Brames-Aigues, in the South West of France, is the country yard between Toulouse and Albi. We are in one of the most ancient terroir of the AOC Gaillac, exactly on the third slope of the left side of Tarn river.

Terrain here is made of sediments deposed all along the centuries by the river, with sporadic presence of clay or stones.

The hill slope is sometimes very marked and all the vineyards are exposed to South-West. In few words, the perfect mix to give to Gaillac wines the right amount of sun and quality.

The domaine produces grapes over its 30 hectares of property, 20 of them are dedicated to red grapes, with a mix of international and autochthone grapes. In the remaining 10 hectars are cultivated white grapes, following the same principle of mixing international with autochthone. At the head of this business, since 1969, the couple composed of Camille Bauguil and Alain Boullenger, who, from 2007, decided to perform a little internal revolution by eliminating all machinery in the cave to re-discover the ancestral way to produce wine: horizontal tanks, feet to pressure and mix the grapes, in the ultimate aim to recover, in a modern way, the old aromas and flavors the industrial production was erasing.

No organic anyway but a “reasoned” conduction of the vineyard, with no chemical substances, controlling herbs and density of leaves on the vines.

The wine

Castel de Brames Serena Cépage Oublié 2014 is a 100% Prunelart. The vines quite young (average 7 years old) and are trained in Cordon de Royat system with an average yield of 30 hl/ha. Grapes are harvested using machineries. The pressured grapes undergo the fermentation process in horizontal tanks at controlled temperature with daily remixes of juice and lees realized using feet. The wine is finally bottled and sent to the market.

Tasting Note

Date	16 February 2016
Wine name	SERENA CEPAGE OUBLIE	Vintage	2014
Nation	Francia	Region	Languedoc
AOC-DOC	Gaillac	Grape Varieties	100 % Prunelart
Serving temperature	18° C	Alcohol	12,5
Price (in euro)	11	SO2 (in mg/l)	Nd

 

Visual Examination		Taste analysis
Limpidity	Limpid	Body	Weak
Color	Purple Red	Balance	Quite Balanced
Consistency	Quite consistent	Soft sensations	Scarcely Soft
Effervescence	//	Hard sensations	Quite Tannic
		Flavors intensity	Scarcely Intense
Olfactory analysis		Flavours	Rose, prunes, pepper
Aroma intensity	Intense
Complexity	Scarcely Complex	Finish/Persistence	Scarcely Persistent
Quality	Quite Fine	Overall evaluations
Aromas	Litchi, rose, violet, black	Development	Ready/Young
	Pepper, prunes	Harmony	Quite Harmonious

 

Food pairing
The wine matches perfectly with strong dishes of Mediterranean cuisine or meats. Another interesting pairing is with chocolate desserts.

  
Here it is another almost disappeared grape variety of South-West of France. Prunelart, at least in the hands of this wine maker, is still an in fieri project, being the wine unripe, weak in body and characterized by a little effervescence. The olfactory impact is really nice, with an explosion of wonderful aromas which unfortunately last only few seconds. Same for the tasting part: flavor is nice, despite that little effervescence that at least has the capacity to balance the acidity. And with a persistence that is too scarce.

Official website: www.castel-de-brames.com