2009 Coteaux du Languedoc Rouge de Domaine Montcalmes

Tasted from new and once-used demi-muids and due to have been bottled this summer, the Montcalmes white 2009 Coteaux du Languedoc (Roussanne-Marsanne, as usual) is headily-scented with nearly over-ripe pear and musk melon, accompanied by heliotrope and lily. Creamy and rich, it lacks the primary juiciness, persistence of floral perfume, or mineral dimension of its 2010 counterpart. But this is still impressive in its soothing and almost sweetly persistent way – with hints of citrus rinds and white pepper adding counterpoint to its finish – and should be flattering to follow for a year in bottle. Frederic Pourtalie – for more on whose vineyards and late-bottling methods consult my report in issue 183 – showed me an extraordinary set of dense, bright, and kaleidoscopically complex 2010 red raw materials which simultaneously offered insights into multiple permutations of cepages and terroirs. In addition to his acreage around Aniane and Puechabon – dominated by cobbled, south-facing acreage and northeast- and northwest-facing Ochre-colored chalk-clay – Pourtalie has now incorporated family holdings (long under contract with the Aniane co-op) roughly eight kilometers to the west in St-Saturnin-de-Lucian. (A new, ultra-steep parcel of Syrah in Aniane will come on-line this year.) Variations on Grenache – which until now represented only 20% of production – proved especially fascinating from 2010, and Pourtalie is toying with the idea of a separate, multi-terroir Grenache bottling from 2011. Yet, exciting as 2010 is at this address, Pourtalie’s multifaceted 2009s – which were still similarly separated by lot when I visited in April – displayed an unusual vivacity and focus for their vintage and thus also tremendous promise, This Pourtalie puts down to the excellence and diversity of his sites and to having preferred sinning on the side of earlier picking in order to conserve freshness and keep alcohol levels under or around 15%. The finished 2008 and 2007 flagship Montcalmes bottlings are fascinating and delicious in their own rights, but tasting them immediately after a tour of dozens of barrels from 2010 and 2009 left me with some suspicion that perhaps the 27-30 months’ elevage (largely in demi-muids and barriques) that these wines undergo might be slightly excessive for capturing the purity of fruit, sense of energy, and above all wealth of nuance that the best of them display from barrel. White wines represent a mere 5% of total production at Montcalmes, but Pourtalie now has two of them, both far too fascinating to deserve merely short shrift. (And since volumes of white here are so small, it’s possible to relatively accurately report on their totality from barrel.) A Daniel Johnnes Selection; Importers include Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300