Les Foulards Rouges - 2022 - Octobre (MAGNUM)

Syrah, Grenache

Banyuls, France

For 12 years, Jean-François Nicq worked as a winemaker in the Côtes du Rhône. On the first of January 2001, Jean-François joined his childhood friend, Bijan Mohamadi (who had been spending his days as a math teacher like our friend Cyrill Sevin) to start a new domaine at the very southern end of the Languedoc. "The Red Scarves" is a literary reference to the works of Fréderic Fajardie, whom the men greatly admired. Their philosophy is in turn a militaristic one, completely against intervention in the vines or the cellar. Native yeasts, no fining, filtration, added sulfur, and even some tillage with the help of their mule, Uma: The real deal. The vineyards are composed of multiple plots, on the lower, flatter part are mostly decomposed sandier soil. On the hillside, 100 meters up, are isolated single plots: Frida, Les Vilains, Les Glaneurs, Grenache. They lie directly on the bedrock with barely any topsoil and show more density. The vines of the estate are all located on the Piedmont of the Albères. It is an acid and poor soil. Less than 10km from the Mediterranean Sea. (Steven Graf)

Whole cluster fermentation and aged for a short time in used 500 liters barrels. Unfined / unfiltered, no additions.