Producer: Paul Estève – Domaine Les Miquettes

Paul Estève – Domaine Les Miquettes

Paul Estève and Chrystelle Vareille decided to vinify their small estate in the Saint-Joseph appellation in the Georgian style: their vintages aged in terracotta jars restore the velvety texture and complexity of the first wines in history.

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6 products

Saint-Joseph 2 years old Red Amphore 2016
Domaine des Miquettes

Saint-Joseph 2 years old Red Amphore 2016

€40,00

Madloba White 2016
Domaine des Miquettes

Madloba White 2016

€46,00

Syrah vin naturel rouge 2017 Domaine des Miquettes 1
Domaine des Miquettes

Syrah Red 2017

€23,00

Saint Joseph Cuvée Madloba Red 2020
Domaine des Miquettes

Saint Joseph Cuvée Madloba Red 2020

€44,50

Madloba White 2018
Domaine des Miquettes

Madloba White 2018

€45,00

Madloba White 2020
Domaine des Miquettes

Madloba White 2020

€48,00

Where?

South of the Saint-Joseph appellation, Domaine des Miquettes was founded in 2003 by Chrystelle Vareille and Paul Estève. The latter trained with René-Jean Dard and François Ribo, two leading figures in natural wine in the Rhône Valley. They began by taking over Paul's family farm with two acres of vines, then took over the entire estate in 2004. One evening, they watched a report on Georgia and became passionate about this Caucasian country, which is none other than the birthplace of wine. Better still: eight-thousand-year-old winemaking techniques are still practiced there. At the heart of this viticulture is the qvevri, the buried jar where all the winemaking takes place: fermentation with skin maceration and aging. They set out to explore Georgia and returned with the decision to age all their wines in buried jars. Unable to order qvevri from Georgia, they fell back on Spanish (tinajas) and Italian jars of similar shape. They have twenty-six in their Georgian-style cellar.

Terroir, plots, and grape varieties

The white grape varieties are located around the house, while the red grape varieties for Saint-Joseph are planted on steep hillsides, between 300 and 450 meters above sea level. The plots are located on a granite base with light soils composed of black mica granite, schist, and gneiss. The estate's first plot was planted with old Syrah grapes in the Saint-Joseph appellation. The estate initially expanded to a total of three hectares in the Saint-Joseph appellation and 1.3 hectares of Syrah and Viognier, classified as vin de pays. The estate now covers 4.3 hectares.

Growing Methods

The estate is managed organically (Ecocert) with biodynamic practices. The soils, depending on the plot configuration, are worked by horse or winch and pickaxe; tractors are used on the higher ground. The vines are tended and fortified with plant decoctions and clay. No chemical inputs are added to the vineyard work. The harvest is entirely manual.

Vinification

For maximum expression of the terroir, the wines are vinified as naturally as possible, without additives, without added sulfites (since 2012), without any synthetic products or recent technology. Fermentation is carried out using natural yeasts. No fining or filtration is used. However, since 2014, the great singularity of Domaine des Miquettes lies in their Georgian-style winery, with twenty-six buried jars. They distinguish, however, between tinajas (Spanish jars) for maceration and buried "amphorae" for aging. For the reds, fermentation takes place for three weeks in tinajas, pressing, and aging in buried jars for eleven months; for the whites, fermentation and skin maceration for six months, then pressing and aging for six months in buried jars.

The Wines

All Domaine des Miquettes vintages are sulfur-free and aged in jars. The most representative is probably their famous Saint-Joseph Madloba ("thank you" in Georgian), a fresh, fruity, and balanced red, aged for six months, with a lovely texture without astringency that will allow it to be kept for more than ten years. For the white Madloba, also aged for six months in a jar, the terracotta erases the astringency and transmutes it into a velvety texture, with powerful notes of bergamot, lemon, absinthe and a lovely bitterness. The Syrah in vin de pays reveals itself on the palate as velvety, fruity, peppery and raspberry. The red Saint-Joseph, from forty-year-old vines and bottled after two years in a jar, offers magnificent notes of pepper and violet, and here again the satiny palate, the fruity substance typical of good terracotta aging.

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