Cyril & Elliot, "Blouge" VdF 2024 750ml

As Guilhaume says, “The idea is simple. Provide a delicious wine inexpensively, and of course, naturally made.”  So it is with this collaboration of Cyril Cuche and his nephew Elliot. Of the new wine, “I discovered Blouge not that long ago really, through some cuvées from Matassa I drank at Cave Septime...this whole blending process was quite fascinating to me. Cyril and I discussed the project pretty early on, we first got to work on a rosé base, out of my favorite grape there, Cinsault.  And once that was done, we wanted more depth—a little more color, something more Tavel like, more vinous. We started incorporating another component, still Cinsault, but made it carbonic, the way he makes his 2 liter bottling. We threw that in one of his gorgeous circular Italian cement tanks outside the winery.  A few month later, this crazy mix of freshness and seriousness was popping out of the glass.  I always wondered how Emanuel Reynaud made his wines, and I swear with that glass in my hand, at that particular time, I convinced myself they were made that way. 

We decided to add a little bit of white for acid and minerality, and a little Grenache that was slightly reductive to keep the wine fresh through bottling. The result is drinking like Poulsard in texture; it’s not even 12% alcohol, but it’s certainly ripe and southern in many ways. I’ve never been more excited to drink buckets of one of our collaborative bottlings than this latest one, I must admit.”- Guilhaume Gerard