Carignanissime de Centeilles

The tenements of Centeilles

Under this generic term a certain number of cuvée are made in limited quantities. they owe their characters to their terroirs of origin, as is the case of Carignanissime.
"Tènements" is an old term in "langue d'oc" or Occitan (the old language spoken in the languedoc region) meaning the different quarters of a communal territory. "Tènements" is to the winegrower from the Languedoc what "climat" is to the winegrower from Burgundy: a live reality, rich in historical connotations, in a infinite range of noble terroirs.

Technical data

1- Grape varieties : 100% Carignan. These are very old vines (50-70 years old) trained using the classic Mediterranean gobelet or head pruning, also used in Bandol and in Chateauneuf-du-Pape
2 - Vinification : by carbonic maceration:
- Grapes are hand-picked and transported to the cellar in containers with a capacity of 90 litres but only to 40 kilos. In this way no crushing is possible. Carbonic maceration dictates that the tank must be previously saturated with carbon dioxide and that the grapes must be poured in intact, without the slighest crushing. But at Centeilles, being the perfectionists we are, we have added scrupulous rules that we are most certainly the only ones to apply
- We discard systematically for 48 hours, all the "free-run juice" which manages to escape in spite of all precautions, in order to keep the risk of no adding yeast to the dank and no sulfiting at all
- When it's time for devatting, we remove grapes from the tanks which are as intact as when they went in. These grapes are transferred manually to the press, with the same respect as when they were picked and put into the tanks
3 - Maturing and bottling : only in tanks, for about 9 months. The bottling takes place soon after, in order to "imprison the fruit in the bottle" (as Marquis d'Angerville was supposed to have said one day about his Meursaults).

About Carignanissime....

In the Minervois, as in all the french appelations, the INAO ( Institut National des Appellations d'Origine) imposes on each wine estate the sorts of grape varieties and their respective percentages. Since this deviding up into percentages is done in the vineyard, there is nothing to prevent a winemaker from vinifying separately the Mourvèdre, or the Syrah, or the Carignan, and making a separate cuvée, as long as the quotas are respected.
All of the soil of Centeilles is calcareous clay on siliceous sandstones, but one could say that the Carignans are planted in the leanest and stoniest soil of the estate. Due to the soil types and the age of the vines, they yields are very low, between 30 and 45 hl/ha, and some years production can even become confidential (22 hl/ha around the church in 1992....).

Personality

" The nose is typical of the South, cocoa and spices with overtones of aromatic herbs and leather. The mouth is warm, with rounded matter, and tannins that are amazingly rich for this grape variety more often dressed in wooden clogs than Sunday best." Pierre Casamayor - RVF- June 1997.