Description
Faugères is a small appellation, by Languedoc standards, lying immediately to the east of Saint-Chinian. The terrain is largely hilly, not to say mountainous, and a feature of the Faugères is that the vines are planted on schists. This very friable soil makes for perfect drainage and the stones effectively soak up the heat during the day in summer and reflect it back on the vines. The very poor soils of Faugères were recognised centuries ago when the Romans realised the potential of the region. Possibly because of its size, and certainly because of the uniformity of its soils, Faugères has enjoyed considerable success over the years and a number of properties have established themselves in the trade. One of the first of the growers to bottle his own wine was Alquier way back in the early 1900s, and to this day this property enjoys an excellent reputation and is making some of the leading wines of the appellation. The degree of slope and stony soils make mechanisation virtually impossible and so everything is done by hand. Moreover, Jean-Michel Alquier insists on very low yields in order to get wines of concentration and power. This is Jean-Michel Alquier’s top red wine and is made with particular care. The harvest is destemmed and after a cool start is allowed to macerate over a number of days before racking into oak barrels, the majority of which will be new. Les Bastides receives the longest period in cask, normally around 18 months, and is a wine which can easily keep for ten years. The bouquet is immediately seductive, ripe and distinguished. The flavours too are singularly attractive and fine. Decant in advance of serving. Now to 2016.
