Antocyáme, "18h17" 2021

The name of the project is, at first, beguiling – it doesn’t mean anything in particular on its own. But, as with winemaking itself, the name is an alchemy, a neologism scaffolded by etymology and personal flourish. Where science meets soul, or something like that. Anthocyanins are the water-soluble flavonoids (pigments) found in the chemical compound group known as phenol(ic)s – basically, these are the molecules in the skins of grapes from which color arises, ergo the ‘antocy’ bit of the name. “Âme,” if you speak French (I do not), you’ll well know means “soul.” Science meets soul. For Muriel Zoldan, the winemaker behind this domaine, hereinlies the heart of what it means to farm and make wine – it is more a facilitation of natural products and processes than an intervening or creating them. Essentially, that the soul of the wine is to be found in the natural, microscopic changes she encourages via farming method and vinifcation process, or as she puts it, her purpose it so simply “accompany” the development of the grapes. Working in the southwest’s Côteaux et Terrases de Montauban about halfway between Montpellier to the southeast on the Côte d’Azur and Bordeaux to the northwest on the Atlantic, Muriel has created 7.5 hectares of pristine vines amidst the shockingly green rolling hills & ridge forests just 10km outside the city of Montauban proper. The grape varieties here are Tannat, Aboriou (also known as Early Burgundy in California), Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, etc. A kind of hodgepodge representing the place in which Montauban finds itself – somewhere not quite Bordeaux & Dordogne nor properly in the mix with areas farther south such as Corbieres, Faugeres, or Beziers. Since 2017, these have represented a refreshing breath of air in the ‘natural’ wine scene whereby her range runs the gamut with an emphasis on deeper, bigger reds of elegance and nuance without losing space for a few cuvées with shorter macerations that show an even lighter hand than you may expect – deliciously sumptuous wines with a bit of flair.

An earthy, crunchy, blue-fruited bottling of Cabernet Franc & Syrah from 35 year old vines in Southwest France. The grapes are destemmed and given a short maceration on the skins in fiberglass tanks. Fermented with wild yeasts and bottled unfined, unfiltered with no SO2.