Les Vignes Oubliées - Languedoc blanc 2024

Jean-Baptiste Granier produces one of the most exciting Cinsaults, masterfully cultivating just under ten hectares since his debut in 2007, with the support of Olivier Jullien. The finish is delightful and floral, with notes of red berries and licorice: the similarity in mouthfeel to the great Pinot Noirs of Burgundy is evident. It has everything a great wine should, except the price. The flagship cuvée, from the Terrasses-du-Larzac, has avoided all the classic pitfalls—overripeness and over-extraction—and comes very close to matching the best examples of its kind. In just a few years, the white has established itself as one of the region’s finest wines for fine dining.

From small plots nestled in the woods, Grenache, Clairette, White Carignan, and Roussanne are harvested to craft this white wine: sap-like and resinous, its bouquet reveals the complexity of the blend, with white floral notes emerging on the palate against a backdrop of smooth, bitter notes.

The Vignes Oubliées project began in 2007, when Olivier Jullien and Jean-Baptiste Granier—then an intern at Mas Jullien—decided to make wine for the first time from plots of old, high-altitude vines in the Saint-Privat area. The vineyard is planted on schist and sandstone soils that had been left to fall into disuse; these soils produce beautiful grapes, but in small quantities that did not meet the expectations of local cooperatives. The experiment proved successful, the wine was named, and the adventure could continue: Jean-Baptiste would tend to these old vines. Today, they are aged in a natural cave, a restored former oil mill. The wines’ character has gradually refined, resulting in wines with pure and deep mouthfeel.