Press Releases
Château La Croix Martelle marks the birth of a new entity: Les Domaines Boisset
March 3, 2003—Clos Jordan in Canada and Le Domaine de la Vougeraie in Burgundy have now been joined by a third property, Château La Croix Martelle in Languedoc-Roussillon, and collectively these now compose a new entity: Les Domaines Boisset. This recent acquisition gives Boisset a firm foothold in the Minervois district, cradle of great wines.
Château La Croix Martelle is a domaine of 70 hectares situated in the heart of La Livinière, the most prestigious of the Minervois appellations (163 hectares total area, established 1999). To date, 20 hectares of the domaine have been planted up with typically southern grape varieties growing in soils which include limey marls, hard limestones, black schists and red marls.
Pascal Marchand, native of Quebec and now manager of Le Domaine de la Vougeraie, together with his "other half", head grower Bernard Zito, will be working closely with Caroline de Beaulieu, oenologist and co-owner of La Croix Martelle, and her head grower Jacques Gervasi.
What makes this enterprise special is the decision to renew the life of this patch of ground by managing it in line with the tenets of biodynamics, a philosophy which takes account of telluric, lunar and astral influences. The resulting wines will be the product of working in partnership with Nature, wines of exceptional quality from low-yielding vines growing in healthy living soils.
The same philosophy guides the management of Le Domaine de la Vougeraie where since 1999 Pascal Marchand has been putting his talent to work to produce concentrated and authentic wines derived from "hand-crafted" cultivation techniques. It is a demanding task involving minute attention to each individual plot throughout the vegetative cycle - work that has been going on under the watchful eye of Bernard Zito for the past fifteen years.
The situation of La Croix Martelle gives it a magic all of its own. The wild countryside harbours paleolithic sites such as the caves of Les Solhellades, imposing dolmens, and other historic and prehistoric remains to fire the imagination. Lying as it does on an ancient crossroads where history, geography and cultures meet and mingle, its name, La Croix, is an appropriate symbol of unity in diversity. The area is dominated by rugged hills where the Mediterranean plain meets the Causse, and the climate is an interplay between the soft south and the harsher moods of the mountains. And in the same way it has been subject throughout its history to contrasting cultural influences, including Celtic, Roman, and Saracen.
The landscape of the domaine itself is typically Mediterranean with a Roman road running through it. The vineyards are enclosed in drystone walls and the landscape is dotted with "capitelles" - stone shepherds' huts. There are olive trees and cypresses among the scrub vegetation of the "garrigue". Running water is present in abundance, giving life to the varied flora of a self-contained ecosystem.
This natural diversity has given birth today to two wines: La Livinière Grande Réserve (RRP around 23€) and La Réserve de Sirus (RRP around 12€). In addition, high quality olive oil is made from the fleshy and much sought-after "Lucques" olives, typical of the district.
The grapes are typical meridional varieties: Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Cisnault. Each variety is harvested separately by hand and subjected to Burgundian-style vinification in wooden vats. The 2000 vintage Grande Réserve had eighteen months of elevage in wooden barrels. This is an ample and well-built wine whose elegant and velvety tannins have a rare delicacy and denote a wine with solid keeping qualities. La Réserve de Sirus has a mouth with a full and straightforward attack revealing a balance between silky and persistent tannins and aromas of blackberry, raspberry and bilberry, vinified to bring out the fruit.
