Cevennes up
Our second port of call on day one was to the renowned biodynamic estate, Mas Foulaquier, owned and run by the affable Pierre Jéquier and Blandine Chauchat.
A mas was the centre of a largely self-sufficient economic unit, which could produce its own fruit, vegetables, grain, milk, meat and even silkworms. It was constructed of local stone, with the kitchen and room for animals on the ground floor, and bedrooms, storage places for food and often a room for raising silkworms on the upper floor. Pierre and Blandine live and work in this beautifully restored farmhouse, a sizeable yet extremely cosy building with views across the valley. There is a gite attached, a swimming pool, and the vineyards start at the front door effectively.
Pierre Jéquier was originally an architect, but his passion for wine and the desire to work close to nature led him to the life of the vigneron. After a lot of research in the South of France, it was love at first sight when he discovered Mas Foulaquier in 1998. With its old stone farmhouse built over centuries, the domaine is situated at the northern edge of the designated Pic-Saint-Loup cru and surrounded by a sea of garrigue. The farm overlooks a large plot of 8-hectares of gently sloping vines, similar to an enclosed Burgundy parcel. In addition to this lovely setting, the property is part of the exceptional Pic-St-Loup terroir: a pebbly landscape warmed by the southern sun and cooled by the climate of the lower reaches of the Cévennes. The main plot slope faces south-southwest, which means the grapes ripen early. The wide divergence between daytime and night-time temperatures is accentuated by the altitude of the vines (200m) and ensures that the wines are extremely refreshing on the palate.
In 2003, Blandine, a parliamentary civil servant in Paris, joined him after being seduced by the world of wine: she then carried out harvests in Cairanne, pruning in Muscadet, writing a book entitled “Portraits of Winegrowers”, BTS viticulture and oenology of Mâcon. We tried a Cabernet Franc from her former Loire days – and very lovely it was too. The couple thus united their common passion for viticulture and decided to make Mas Foulaquier their home with Blandine bringing with her an additional three-hectares of old (mainly Carignan) vines in the plot known as Les Tonillières in Claret.
When discussing Mas Foulaquier one must mention biodynamics. (They have been certified Demeter since 2007.) This method of proactive viticulture is driven by love for this rugged environment, and respect for the magical and unspoilt landscape. The vines are cultivated and treated with preparations applied in accordance with the biodynamic sowing calendar. They were persuaded to this approach after meeting Valérie and Philippe Chaume-Arnaud, vignerons in Vinsobres, and their advisor Jacques Mell. For them, biodynamics is more than just a method; for them it is a philosophy based on values, it aims to preserve the natural balance of the land, to promote the health of the soil, the well-being of the vines and their resistance to disease. This virtuous approach has a positive impact on the quality of the wines produced by the estate. Biodynamic practices include the use of preparations such as horn dung, composted cow dung, silica, and decoctions of plants and flowers.
Since the very first vintage in 1999, Foulaquier has undergone significant evolution and continues to develop. The vines are cultivated without the use of chemicals, the harvest is done manually, and the winemaking excludes the use of oenological products. The harvest at Mas Foulaquier is carried out exclusively by hand, using 20 kg boxes (caisses). The delicate treatment of the grapes continues in the cellar, where no aggressive methods are used. They avoid any pumping or addition of yeasts and sulphites which could alter the quality of the wine. The cellar was specially built in 1999, allowing the vinification, ageing and bottling of the entire production on site.
Vinification is carried out in small capacity concrete vats and conical French oak vessels. There are even some amphorae – now obligatory in all French wineries! The objective is not to follow an immutable method, but rather to adapt to the characteristics of each year’s harvest. The grape varieties are harvested by hand, transferred into vats by gravity and vinified separately with indigenous yeasts, the vatting periods varying from two to six weeks, the devatting carried out manually without pumping, following a philosophy which favours balance, finesse and expression of the fruit rather than the power obtained by excessive extraction. Neither sulphites nor yeast are added in order to allow the maximum expression of the ‘terroir’. Their work respects the rhythms of the biodynamic planting calendar, both in the vineyard and in the cellar.
Macerations can be very short or in infusion and very long. Fermentation temperatures are as natural as possible, as close as possible to the temperature of the grapes. No cold fermentation, which is too energy-intensive and too technological.
They express their objective simply: “To work in an artisanal way to be close to the material and the living.”
The relaxed personalities of Blandine and Pierre seems to be transmitted into the wines. Whilst no doubt they work very hard, the way they work is very organised and the cellar/winery is neatly laid out whilst the materials (concrete, sandstone (amphora), wood) give off harmonious vibes.
(Some of) the wines
We started with the Chouette Blanc, named after the Snowy Owl, is a “team-Med” blend of Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Bourboulenc, Rolle and Clairette, all from mass selection plants trained in goblet pruning and planted in 2009 on the terroir of ” Foulaquier “, a 135 million year old limestone scree hillside on red clay located north of Pic Saint-Loup in the commune of Claret. The vinifications are carried out without the addition of oenological products, the grapes are pressed gently after a light cold settling, then vatted for fermentation which takes place in barrels. Maturation takes place in wood and sandstone amphora for two springs. The wine is then assembled in concrete vats and bottled by gravity with a vacuum pump on a “good moon”. This wine moved all over the palate, here a note of mandarin and crystallised grapefruit, there some pear, spice and fennel. Really mellow like floating on gentle alternating waves of fruit and garrigue flavour.
The Orange à la Mer was next up. In this vintage (2023) the wine is composed of Clairette (70%) and Muscat Petit Grains (30%) from the domaine itself (in previous vintages they have purchased Muscat from the Roussillon) which is macerated for one month in an amphora then aged for one spring before bottling. Salty, mineral and aromatic, Orange à la Mer has notes of rose, apricot and garrigue plants and is a total mouth-charmer.
L’Orphée is the estate’s flagship cuvée, combining spice and indulgence thanks to the perfect balance between Syrah and Grenache de Foulaquier.
The macerations are gentle and very long, without intervention, in the form of infusion, in order to slowly extract the materials and tannins and for everything to blend harmoniously into the wine. Aged for two springs, in concrete vats, wood and earthenware amphora, the wine is then bottled by gravity preserving the quality of the wine as much as possible.
With the estate’s old Carignan blended with Grenaches and Cinsaults from Gard, the 2022 Les Montagnes Bleues might be classified as a light red. Eighteen months of quiet ageing in concrete vats give this wine its fruity and silky personality. What’s in a name? The pretty Grenaches have a view of the Blue Mountains, the other name given to the Cévennes.
We tasted many more wines including a lot of vintages of Les Calades (including the 2004). Whilst the wines certainly reflect the nature of the vintages, the consistency of quality was remarkable and they demonstrate that technology, chemical intervention and sulphur are not necessary to making quality stable wines.
A few words about our charming hosts. The wine flowed from mags all evening. Blandine mentioned that they tried to put aside some wine from every vintage to age and implied that it was our responsibility to help them to create some additional space in the cellar. After a sensational jambon persillé outside (baptising a long wooden table that Pierre had just built) we retired back to the farm’s dining room having been well and truly munched on by the local mosquitoes. Dario mentioned that mosquitoes like to feast on blood with higher ph, so I drank as much white wine as possible, but that didn’t seem to have any effect on their predations although it might have desensitised me to the itchy and scratchy part.
Blandine had cooked two monster trays of vegetable lasagne which the Italians in our party devoured nostalgically, coming back for seconds and thirds. Pierre proved to be quite the mighty trencherman too, even more so when equally vast trays of chocolate pudding appeared, and he started to eat one of them from the inside out with a beatific smile on his face. All meals end with a marc, and this was no exception, and finally as the strong-willed got up to leave, a gin bottle was waved in front of us, thereby magically transfixing the usual suspect party animals to their chairs again. Take a bow Nacho, Josh, Riccardo and whoever else resisted the lure of bed and the knowledge of a very early start the following morning!
Blandine and Pierre didn’t want us to go, and we really didn’t want to leave. I could happily have curled up on one of their vast comfortable sofas. This visit and the subsequent one to Daumas Gassac made me view wine in an even more holistic way, in a sense that this happy couple live in harmony with the land and respect their immediate environment. Their gentle endeavours result in delicious natural wine that truly reflects the place that it comes from. And although the wines can certainly be aged (and we drank several examples of older vintages) it primarily exists to nourish us and give us pleasure.
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Interested in finding out more about the wines of Mas Foulaquier? Contact us directly:
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