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Location: France, Sud-Ouest
Winemaker: Jérôme Galaup
Grapes: Mauzac Vert
Soil: clay, iron, limestone
Winemaking: fermentation with indigenous yeasts in vat, then stops during the Winter. The still wine with sugar is bottled in February, methode ancestrale (also known as methode Gaillacoise). The sparkling wine is disgorged in late May.
From us at M&L: creamy and sharp with green edges and effortless river-y bubble—lime flower, crunchy celery leaf, dandelion milk, salt and snow. Vive les bulles de Mauzac!
Location: France, Anjou
Winemakers: Tommy Vernon
Grapes: Chenin Blanc
Winemaking: Organic farming. Hand harvest. Native yeast fermentation. Unfined, unfiltered and no added sulfites
Location: France, Languedoc-Roussillon
Winemaker: Jean François (Jeff) Coutelou
Grapes: Cinsault
Soil: variations of clay/limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming, hand harvested fruit, fermented with indigenous yeast. No fining/filtering/SO2
From the Producer: Puimisson is a Languedoc village situated a few kilometres from Béziers, with a Mediterranean climate. From the south, the sea brings wind and humidity... From the north the mountains bring freshness...The domaine has been certified organic since 1987, when we decided that we wanted to show the possibilities of growing vines without chemicals. In 1987, nobody was speaking of Mad Cow Disease, care for the environment was scarce and it required an act of great courage to follow the organic route. 30 years ago the Domaine was made up of more than 20ha and produced an average of 1800hl each year. Today it only has 13 ha under vine producing an average of 500hl.
Our vineyard extends over a dozen hectares of a variety of terroirs. Puimisson is made up of a mosaic of soils and subsoils. The majority are clay-limestone with more or less clay, some veins of villafranchien gravel, marl ... All of our vines have been cultivated organically since 1987, long before it was fashionable to do so. We can guarantee that all the soils of the domaine have seen no chemical fertilisers, nor any synthetic products for more than 28 years. The management of the vineyard is rigorous whilst fully respecting the plants and the soils. Ploughing, necessary for clay soils, is limited to ensure that the soil does not become compacted. In Spring, every vine stock is hoed manually. We cut back the vines only when we consider it necessary and after they have finished budding. As regards treatments, we limit any interventions whilst not hesitating to use plant based composts and preparations as well as other natural products.
We tend the vines throughout the year so that they give the very best grapes. At the moment of harvest, our work is confined to creating the best conditions to allow them to express themselves. There does not exist one single recipe, the making of the wine is adapted to the grape variety and to the vintage (short or long maceration, destemming or whole bunch, punching the cap or pumping over) many, varied methods can be used according to inspiration and the grapes themselves... In the cellar it is nature which decides... The choice of 'natural' winemaking is the end result of the work carried out in the vines. The choice is to limit external elements to allow the grapes to give the best of themselves. No adding of SO 2, no adding yeasts, no adding enzymes, ... in a phrase, leave nature alone whilst maintaining an eye for observation, a palate for tasting, a hand for helping and nurturing and a heart for sharing... Wine is a drink which creates conversation and conviviality... Bottling is done at the domaine, with no filtering whilst respecting the lunar calendar ... All our wines are made without any added SO 2 , including at bottling.
Location: France, Corsica
Winemaker: Julie & Mathieu Marfisi
Grapes: Niellucciu
Soil: Silt, Clay on limestone
From us at M&L: A keen sense of place - its history and its landscape - and a clever, intrepid touch in the cellar make the wines of Corsica’s Clos Marfisi something we always look forward to.
Mathieu and Julie, brother and sister team, are fifth generation growers in Patrimonio. Wine is grown in different sites across the island, but Patrimonio is special: an amphitheater of limestone jutting right out of the sea. In some cases there is virtually no topsoil, just bald beautiful stones. This gift makes for appetizingly fresh wines that can also be quite long lived.
Here, Julie and Mathieu only work with native varieties (one way that they stay connected to the area’s venerable history), and they focus on three remarkable vineyards, Grotta di Sole, Gritole, and Ravagnola.
Today we are celebrating the arrival of three gorgeous wines, all from the stunning Ravagnola site. Silt and clay barely cover the west-facing limestone hills here, and the site is planted to a special array of local grapes: Niellucciu, Minustellu, and Carcaghjolu Neru.
Each wine is an ingenious look at how to treat a single parcel. There is a classic Patrimonio of Niellucciu offering deep aromas and deep poise, a field blend showcasing the balance of shrubby herbs and fresh coastal fruits, and an inspired blanc de noir of gravity-pulled free run Niellucciu owing to the fact that there was no white wine made in ‘22.
From the Importer Selection Massale: If you aren’t familiar with Corsica, the main event is Patrimonio. This AOC covers 400ha with half of them being owned by the two largest producers, and the other half split up amongst 30 smaller growers. If you haven’t already guessed, Clos Marfisi is part of the latter. Brother and sister, Mathieu and Julie are fifth generation at the helm of this estate, having taken over from their father, Touissant, when Julie returned in 2001, and her brother in 2012, from having careers elsewhere in France (including the venerable Chateau Pibarnon in Provence).
Now, we thought that we had seen it all in terms of limestone, but Corsica takes the cake. Clos Marfisi’s vineyards (which Touissant planted about 40-50 years ago) rise up from the Mediterranean with southern and western exposures on steep slopes that are practically white with large chunks of broken up limestone. Seriously impressive. Equally impressive is the fact that they never gave into outside pressure and the entirety of the estate is planted to local varieties, so you won’t find any Grenache here. Their father is still very active in the vineyards, and is the main reason that this estate has never been touched by pesticides or herbicides, which were shunned for one reason or another by previous generations of vignerons on the island. This commitment to organics continues and the estate will be certified Bio by the 2018 vintage. Vestiges of the old guard remain in the cellar as well where native yeasts have always been used for fermentations, and sulfur levels are kept to a minimum.
As president of the Patrimonio AOC, Mathieu has a clear vision for where the estate is headed, and we like what we are seeing. Their commitment to honoring the past while shaping their own future is incredibly exciting to us.
In 2020 Mathieu injured his back and couldn't get on a tractor for months, so all his friends — Thomas Santamaria, Nicolas Mariotti Bindi, and Jean-Baptiste Arena took care of working the vineyards for him, so he decided to make a wine called ‘Patrimonio Mon Amour’ as a thank you. It’s a friendly glou glou with very little extraction and no SO2 added during vinification. Four days maceration whole cluster with first-harvest Niellucciu from the Grotta di Sole and Ravagnola parcels. Fresh, not overly complex, and highly drinkable.
Location: France, Loire, Loir-et-Cher
Winemaker: Thierry, Zoë & Louise Puzelat
Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc
Soil: Sand, gravel, limestone
Winemaking: Direct press. Alcoholic/malolactic fermentation and aging on the lees with regular batonnages for 12 months in used Burgundy barrels. With all estate wines at Tue-Boeuf, the decision to add or avoid S02 is made instinctively each vintage. If S02 is added, it is only at bottling and in a tiny dose of one gram per hectoliter.
From us at M&L: ‘Le Buisson Pouilleux’ is named for the same lieu-dit, which translates to ‘The Bush Full of Lice.’ The oldest vines are almost 70, though many have been replanted along the way. Some are very young while others are in their 20's. Fresh and salty on the nose, like smelling a just-shucked ice-cold oyster; dewy effervescence, lime pith, candied ginger, turmeric, and blackboard chalk.
From the Importer Louis/Dressner: Since the Middle Ages, there have been records about the lieu-dit “le Tue-Boeuf” and its excellent wines which were enjoyed by the local nobility and the kings of France; the family name Puzelat is mentioned in 15th century documents. History, though, is not the story here. It’s about two brothers, Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat, who tend their 10 hectare family estate in Les Montils (part of the Cheverny AOC) and rent four hectares in a village nearby to produce AOC Touraine.
The region, near the hunting grounds of Sologne, has always used a wide variety of grapes. Since the 1960’s, the Puzelats' father had been making his own selections of vines to replant, leaving his sons with vines of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris (since ripped out), Menu Pineau (or Orbois), Pinot Noir, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Côt (or Malbec). A visit to their cellar feels like a "Tour de France" of varietals, each wine with its distinct personality, lovely label and wonderful name. Some cuvées are so small that there is never enough to go around.
Jean-Marie was joined on the estate by his younger brother Thierry in the early 90’s and they began converting their vines to organic viticulture. When the Cheverny AOC was created with the 1993 vintage, some varietals became outlawed from the blends, and the brothers started a yearly struggle to get their wines accepted under the new appellation (it bears to mention that they were also in their earliest stages of experimenting with sulfur free winemaking).
While firm believers in the concept of the AOC system, this began a trend of the brothers selling some of their wines as declassified Vin de Pays (renamed Vin de France since 2010). For us, it was one of the first examples of customers knowing and trusting the estate's work methods over the appellation itself. Case in point: as recently as 2020, Thierry has made the difficult decision of intentionally declassifying all of his Touraine cuvées after years of struggles with the appellation and its ever-increased efforts at standardizing and simplifying one of France's most diversely planted wine regions. And while we cannot claim the Puzelats were the first to do this, it clearly served as a monumental influence in the world of natural wine, setting an example for those having problems or feeling stifled by their appellations' criteria.
Speaking of natural wine, Clos du Tue-Boeuf, along with Marcel Richaud, Dard and Ribo, Yvon Metras and a handful of others were at the heart of the nascent natural wine movement in mid-90's Paris. They are undoubtedly the impetus for spreading this philosophy in the Loire, which remains a hotbed for the style to this day. As Hervé Villemade, himself part of the the second wave of natural winemakers of the late 90's, puts it: "What really made me start to believe I could make wines in this style were Thierry Puzelat's. Marcel Lapierre's were the spark, but he lived 450 kilometers away from me and was working with very different terroirs; having a neighbor pull it off right next door was the inspiration and motivation to follow in his footsteps."
After an illustrious, 40+ year career, Jean-Marie retired following the 2018 vintage. Thierry is now fully at the helm of the estate and was recently joined by his daughters Zöe and Louise.
