Clot de l'Oum
Roussillon
Love, soul and dedication are a winning combination of ingredients when applied with passion. Eric and Lèia Monné have done exactly this with their Clot de l'Oum project and the results are nothing short of extraodinary. They started to buy old vineyards at high altitudes of 400-600 meters in 1995 and immediately began conversion to organic farming. Initially they sold all the fruit to a co-op. It wasn't until 2001 when they bottled their first vintage and soon thereafter it became evident that something special was happening at Clot de l'Oum when the Numero Uno took top honors in blind tasting attended by several of London's top wine personalities. Here the Numero Uno beat out heavyweight classics like JL Chave Hermitage, Rayas Châteauneuf, and Granges des Pères. Since then the Monné family have worked relentlessly to continue refining their efforts. While many wines in France and elsewhere have seen alcohol levels rise over the past 10 years where the claim is often made that it is the result of a global climate change, Clot de l'Oum have actually reduced alcohol and ph levels across the board while simultaneously managing to increase the expressiveness of the fruit. Eric attributes this change to the strict organic farming that took several years to show its full effect. David Schildknecht provided validity to all this when he called the 2007 vintage "almost certainly his best collection yet."
The Roussillon is a fascinating region with a rich winegrowing history that dates back to ancient Roman times. There is an incredible diversity of terroirs here so to say a wine is from the Roussillon is a rather general statement. Over 30 parcels of very steep mountainside vineyards in the communes of Maury and Belesta make up the 15 hectares owned by Clot de l'Oum. The relatively high elevation with its cool nighttime weather is largely responsible for refreshing acidity in these southern wines but perhaps it is the soils that really set them apart from neighboring areas. Many of the plots have granite-based soils and this is a rather unusual occurrence in France. The other principal French vineyard area to have granite is the famous hill of Hermitage.
Le Compagnie des Papillons is named after the butterflies that returned to the vineyards after some years of organic farming. 45% carignan, 45% grenache and 10% syrah from gneiss soils.
Saint Bart Vieilles Vignes gets its name from the small chapel next to the 100-year-old cargignan vines that are grown in high altitude gneiss that go into this wine. Besides 1/3 old vine carignan, there is also third each of syrah grown in schist and grenache grown in granite.
Le Clot is a small-production even by Clot de l'Oum standards. It's almost a baby Numero Uno made from about 90% syrah and the rest from carignan. The vines here are only about 12-15 years old grown on granite and schist. Yields tend to be a little higher than in the Numero Uno and the élevage is done in foudres. While not as structured and intense as the Uno, it does offer a lot of pleasure and can be enjoyed without extended aging.
Numero Uno typically has about 80-90% syrah grown in granite with the remainder coming from carignan. These vines average 30-50 years of age. This has similarites to serious northern Rhones like Cote Rotie and Hermitage yet there is a briny and granite mineral aspect to this distinguishing it from the Rhone wines. It is always best to give this wine a few years in bottle before opening.
