Producer: Domaine Capmartin

Where?

In Gascony, people love to perpetuate family and agricultural traditions. The Capmartin family has been passionate about winemaking for five generations, and since the 1980s, they have been tending a magnificent vineyard with rich and varied soils, diverse exposures, and ideal for creating great wines. This Gers vineyard stretches around the former Maumusson-Laguian convent, an imposing 18th-century building clinging to the limestone rock of a former quarry. It now houses the cellars and the house of the Capmartin estate, in the Madiran and Pacherenc-de-Vic-Bilh appellations.

Guy Capmartin settled here in 1985 after leaving the family estate to create his own. In 1987, Tradition, his first vintage, was born. His wines quickly attracted attention: bronze, silver, and gold medals followed one after another. The winemaker's approach played a significant role: in the early 2000s, Guy Capmartin and his son Simon decided to improve the quality of their wines by choosing organic and biodynamic farming methods. Certification was obtained in 2013, the Demeter label is currently being applied, and the estate also produces natural cuvées, which we are pleased to offer you at Culinaries.

Terroir, plots, and grape varieties

The entire estate covers seventy hectares, twenty hectares of which are dedicated to vines. Part of the remaining area is cultivated with organic ancient grains for Mr. Capmartin Père's other activity: breadmaking; another part is used to produce rapeseed, sunflowers, and green manure for sowing the plots. Everything, of course, is organic. Back to the vineyard: the soils are diverse—clay-limestone, clay-gravel, clay-siliceous, clay-loam with gravel, all comprising red clays specific to the estate and rounded pebbles or gravel with remarkable filtering and thermal qualities. The clay-loam with gravel plot, in particular, is easy to work with very light, well-drained, and fine soils, like ash: unsurprisingly, the Tannat vines growing there are pre-phylloxera.

The grape varieties are organized around Tannat, the main grape variety of Madiran. Next come Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and for the whites, Petit Manseng, Gros Manseng, and Petit Courbu. A few vines are currently being identified, as the vines are old. In the Côtes de Gascogne Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), we also find Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Viognier, with a little Syrah and Grenache Noir.

Growth and Winemaking Methods

No synthetic chemicals in the vineyard or winery, no weedkillers or phytosanitary products, use of manure and cover crops, herbal preparations, homeopathy—these are the criteria for well-managed organic viticulture. And for the winery, the special winemaking vats are the estate's defining feature: seventy-hectoliter concrete vats with open tops allow extractions to be carried out by punching down the cap rather than traditional pumping over or rack and return. This gives the wines a rich fruitiness and round, silky tannins. The wine is aged in 500-liter barrels where the wood-wine balance is optimized to avoid masking the fruit aromas.

The estate has been farmed organically since the early 2000s, but certification was applied for in 2006 and granted in 2013. Simon Capmartin explains that this request was made out of a desire for clarity and transparency for customers, as the organic and biodynamic methods would have remained the same, whether certified or not. It was in this same spirit that the Demeter biodynamic label was applied for, as the estate has been using biodynamic methods for ten years, and more intensively for the past five years: herbal preparations, homeopathy, etc. "There's sometimes a gap between what people say they do and what they actually do," says Simon. "For me, it allows us to frame our work." »
The Capmartin estate's vintages closely follow the plots: each plot produces a vintage, and each vintage comes from a different plot. The orientation, exposure, and biodiversity give each plot its own identity, which infuses the wines with a distinct energy. Biodynamic work allows us to perceive and refine these natural characteristics. "That's why," says Simon Capmartin, "we have many vintages. I generally choose the plots during vinification, and that creates vintages. The exception is more holistic vintages like Pimpant, a blend of several plots to produce a wine of friendship and conviviality, accessible, fruity, and light."

The Wines

Reading the preceding lines, we understand that preserving the fruity note is a primary objective at the Capmartin estate: there is a concern not to push the extraction too far, to favor the life, roundness, and expressiveness of the wine. The wines from this estate exalt the characteristics of their appellations: Madirans that are particularly dense and rich, Pacherenc-du-Vic-Bilhs that are particularly fresh and intense. And Côtes-de-Gascognes made for thirst and sharing, French wines made for pleasure. All, of course, tailored for the table, gastronomy, and gourmandise. These are frank, honest, and welcoming wines, reflecting the passion of their creators. Before embarking on the natural cuvées, Simon was a little hesitant, as he had drunk a few examples of the style that hadn't convinced him. Moreover, he had just completed a winemaking course that required yeasting, etc. However, "I'm like Saint Thomas, I believe what I see," he says. He experimented with an interesting plot of Cabernet Sauvignon in a very low-yield year, and the result (Cabernat) won him over. "The grape doesn't need anything other than itself to make wine," he concludes.