SAUVE DE LA CITERNE 2011, MAS COUTELOU

Staff Choice

Photos are illustrative only.

TASTING NOTES

I've been showing this wine a lot lately and it continues to stun, especially for the price. Gorgeous, deep ruby colour, pure silk on the palette with rich and precise black fruit and violets. It has amazing, fresh acidity and an elegant streak of minerality that sets it up for a clean, moreish finish. I can kill a bottle in record time.
David Adamick
On-Trade Sales

Sauve de Citerne translates as ‘saved from the tank’, and what goes into this cuveé is the juice that Jean-François Coutelou doesn’t know what to do with. In years where he feel conditions weren’t perfect enough for a character driven wine like ‘Flambadou’ or ‘Le Vigne Haute’, he blends a combination of these grapes to make ‘Sauve de Citerne’.

This vintage is a blend of Mourvèdre with some Syrah and Grenache. Mourvèdre is a difficult grape to work with, but the terroir and conditions here are perfect for producing rich, juicy, ripe grapes that give a full-bodied, concentrated texture and nice floral high notes. For a wine of such structure and complexity this is incredible value for money.

PRODUCER NOTES

The wines of Mas Coutelou, made by Jeff Coutelou in the village of Puimisson in the Languedoc, are some of the best value, most exciting, pure and drinkable wines we ship. These are 'natural' wines of the best sort - they don't taste tainted or unusual, apart from being extrordinarily delicious. An instant hit with customers, press and staff alike, Coutelou's wines have to be some of the greatest bargains ever to grace our shelves.

Mas Coutelou was one of the earliest estates in France to be officially certified as organic (back in 1987) and nowadays Jeff Coutelou is renowned as one of the foremost producers of ‘natural' wine in the Languedoc-Roussillon. This extends to using virtually no sulphur (a very rare and difficult exercise) in order to preserve absolutely the purity and elegance of the old-vine fruit. Jeff only makes the wines that suit a specific vintage, so if that means introducing a new cuvée in one year or skipping vintages of an existing wine because the conditions don’t suit, then so be it.

If you haven't tried these thrilling wines yet, what are you waiting for?

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