Domaine les Terres Promises ‘À Ma Guise’ Rouge 2023
Location: France, Provence
Winemaker: Jean-Christophe Comor
Grapes: 18 varieties… Clairette Blanche, Clairette Rose, Clairette Verte, Carignan Blanc, Carignan Noir, Mourvèdre Noir, Mourvèdre Gris, Mourvèdre Blanc, Grenache Noir, Cinsault, Vermentino, Roussanne, Muscat à Petits Grains, Macabeau, Syrah, Ugni Blanc, Biancu Gentil and Csomor (the name of Jean-Christophe’s grandfather and the name of the forgotten white variety from Southern Hungary)
Soil: clay-limestone
Winemaking: Nouveau style! All fruit is co-fermented in concrete and fiber tanks, 1/2 pressed (usually the reds and more ripe varieties) and the other half (the whites and the low abv fruit). Wine is unfined, unfiltered and no sulfur is added.
From us at M&L: The location and terrain of Jean-Christophe Comor‘s estate is so perfect to him that he named it Domaine des Terres Promises (the Promised Land!).
Perched 400 meters above and 30km back from the Mediterranean this is a site that, since antiquity, has proven ideal. The whole estate is over clay/limestone and the altitude allows the 20+ indigenous varieties (!) to ripen slowly, while they retain all the freshness of acidity Jean-Christophe (and we) crave. He is so enamored with his terroir that he refers to working here as “a privilege”.
Since his debut vintage in 2004 Jean-Christophe has consistently produced exceptional, polished, totally natural wines that drink with such pleasant texture that we think of them as perfect introductions to the cornucopia of wines from Provence that exist outside of the famous, fabled Bandol with its sun-tan-lotion rosés and cut-with-a-knife reds.
From the Producers: We settled in 2004 in the foothills of Sainte-Baume to create a wine estate which now covers 15 hectares. We decided to work our vines according to the principles of organic farming, to vinify and age our wines in a natural way (without addition or input).
Our task is to accompany the vine so that the wine expresses, in the most beautiful way possible, all the identity of its land. Each plot has its own personality that can be found in each of our cuvées.
At an altitude of 400 meters, on a Jurassic dolomitic limestone terroir more than thirty kilometers from the Mediterranean, our land has benefited, since antiquity, from privileged conditions for working the vines. We cultivate a dozen red and white grape varieties in organic farming on fairly homogeneous clay-limestone soil.
The altitude of the estate allows us to pick our grapes later while preserving the freshness we value. In respect of nature and the grapes, our harvests are done manually.