Couleurs Reunies is a special cuvée from natural wine legend, Jeff Coutelou, made from over a dozen local, forgotten grapes, including many obscure, heat-resistant varieties. Listed on the bottle are: Terret Noir & Blanc, Castets, Morastel, and Reveyrenc Gris, but there's likely more varieties that are part of the blend. With global warming constantly threatening the future of grape growing, especially in parts of the vine growing world that are already warm, this project is extremely important, and it so happens that the wine is delicious too! Medium bodied, with a touch of garrigue and nice acidity lent by white and grey varieties in the blend. Really nice freshness and sublte grip.
Jeff Coutelou
Mas Coutelou is home to Jean-François "Jeff" Coutelou, an established organic farmer and winemaker whose work has helped revolutionize the winemaking world of southern France. Taking local varieties, organic agriculture, and minimal intervention as his starting point, he produces, as he says himself, “happy wines from vines grown with love and joy.”
The vines where the Mas Coutelou Classe grapes come from have been certified organic since 1987(!) and they grow alongside a rich biodiversity with animals, vegetables, and minerals.
Mas Coutelou is located in Puimisson, a commune in the Hérault department of the Languedoc and to the east of Béziers. It's been a winemaking village for over 200 years and most of its soils are a mix of red clays and limestone. Today Jeff farms 13 hectares of vines, as well as a few hundred olive trees that protect his vines from his neighbors' farming methods. His father planted the first vines back in 1966 and was one of the pioneers of organic viticulture in the Hérault, when there were just seven organic wine growers in the entire department, today the estate is registered with 'Nature et Progrès'.
The vines at Mas Coutelou are beautifully taken care of and all by hand. The estate is planted to Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre & Cinsaut for red wines and Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Blanc a Petite Grains & Viognier for the whites. He has recently planted some Grenache Gris, Macabeu, and grafted some Clairette musqué and Carignan blanc. The vinification is meticulous and adapted every season; short or long maceration, carbonic maceration, punching down or pumping all depends on the vintage and variety. Selected yeasts have never been used and the use of SO2 is limited, or non-existent in some years when it is possible. The bottling is done at the estate, without filtration and by gravity, a final but very important mark of quality.
