Tirébouché Vin de France red

Tirébouché, Michel Raynaud’s most unfettered wine, is deliberately labelled as a Vin de France, thumbing its proverbial nose at the administrative and legal constraints from which the Languedoc vigneron is all too happy to free himself. This is where Michel releases the proverbial handbrake to explore everything his vines have to offer in each vintage.

The fruit comes from a plot of exceptionally rare Carignan vines in Boutenac (Aude), one of the world’s best terroirs for this old forgotten Mediterranean grape variety. Miraculously, the plot resisted the impact of phylloxera, the devastating insect that arrived in the 19th century and destroyed almost all of the vineyard land not only in Languedoc but across Europe. Consequently, no American rootstock gets between the soil and the grapes.

Planted over 140 years ago, each of these pre-phylloxera vines are deeply rooted. Four generations of the Raynaud family have tended to them. At their ripe old age, these venerable plants face down drought with poise and defiance, their sap nourishing the grapes with pure and complex aromas and flavours. The wines that they produce are all the more authentic thanks to the conscious, reasoned manner in which the parcel is farmed, providing Michel with the perfect blank canvas on which to weave his magic.

At a glance

Variety : 100 % Carignan noir
Soils : Pebbles on marl
Production : Long carbonic maceration (one month), followed by crushing and gentle pressing and subsequent separation of the juice
Origin : Vin de France