Wine & Spirits - June 2017 - 37

Anne Gros and Jean-Paul Tollot in
their vineyard in Minervois.
ural" camp-organic/biodynamic in the vineyards,
low intervention in the winery-and all place a high
value on wines that are simply really good drinking.
Marie and Frédéric Chauffray share that perspective at La Réserve d'O, a winery built into a steep,
forested slope leading up to the Larzac plateau. They
seem at first like an unlikely pair to be running a winery-Frédéric, with his heavy skull rings, bright red
Converse high tops and skinny frame, retains the
air of the punk rocker he was; Marie hails from Brazil, where she trained as an agronomist. Both were
thrown into wine when Frédéric was suddenly called
to take over his parents' wine store in Paris; while the
retail life didn't suit them, the experience sent them
on a search across the south of France for their own
patch of vineyard.
They chose Terraces du Larzac, Marie says, because
it's a bit wild and removed: They knew they wanted to
make wine as naturally as possible, and didn't want
neighbors using chemicals, she explains. Plus, they
found a curious house owned by a journalist who
had named his retreat La Reserve d'O; they bought
the place and, since 2005, have been gathering up all
the old-vine parcels they can find on this high limestone plateau, farming grenache, syrah and cinsault
at elevations reaching from 1,200 to 1,400 feet. Today,
Marie is the head of the Terraces du Larzac Syndicat,
and the domaine plays a leadership role in the biodynamic movement here. Sixty percent of the appellation's domaines are organic, with enough others in
conversion to make that 80 percent in another four
or five years.
Neither of the Chauffrays share the anti-syrah feeling some of their colleagues express; their flagship, La
Réserve d'O, is equal parts syrah and grenache, with
a little cinsault for levity; Hissez-O-French sailor
slang for "hoist the sails"-is a similar blend, with 60
percent syrah. Bilbo is the opposite, a blend of equal
parts cinsault and grenache, with 20 percent syrah.

Their goal, Frédéric explains, is to capture snapshots
of the mixed plantings at each of their parcels.
As we chat in the winery, clouds are gathering outside, dashing hopes of a walk through the vineyards,
so Frédéric and Marie organize an impromptu lunch
in the tasting area, setting out a half-dozen bottles
of their wines. "We like to see which one goes first,"
Marie says.
Maybe if this had been dinner, and there'd been
white tablecloths, the result would have been different. Or if lunch had been something grand and
impressive. Instead we're eating open-faced sandwiches-some with salty ham and melted cheese,
others with Roquefort and walnuts-on thick-cut
sourdough, with a pile of salad, as a thunderstorm
rattles the windows. It's lusty, hearty, knife-and-fork
food and, as impressive as several of the wines may
be, the one that goes first is Bilbo, their tribute to
Bilbão, one of their favorite places to eat and drink.
It's just incredibly juicy and drinkable-thanks to its
reliance on the refreshing qualities of cinsault. n

"We believe in
cinsault not because
it has ambitions
of keeping twenty
years, but because it
is ambitious with the
pleasure of tasting
and the possibilities
to go well with food."
-Anne Gros

La Réserve d'O's old-vine vineyards
in Terraces du Larzac
WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2017

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