Carmarans and Broquas
Dear everyone,
This week we are welcoming the arrival of two really special winemakers from the Aveyron, Nicolas Carmarans and Pauline Broqua. This lesser-known region of France is known for a very special variety called Fer Servadou, a cousin of Cabernet Franc with very peppery, high-toned fruit. Pauline and Nicolas are far and away the standard-bearers for the vinification of this noble variety, and they both make it the centerpiece of their work in the cellar.
The wines of Nicolas Carmarans have been in the market for a long time and his adherents are many. For me, his wines represent an ideal balance of Modern and non-interventionist winemaking by seizing on the benefits of both without either of their detractions. His wines are classically balanced, with a slight bent towards fruit. His wines remain structured and angular despite this tendency -- tannin, acidity, minerality, and the lightest touch of old oak frame the "farming-first" character of exceptional fruit. This has never been more the case than in the 2022 vintage, which finally offered some proper ripeness to a region that typically struggles. The phenolic character of the Fer, the depth of fruit, and the body of these wines are such a pleasant surprise. It was the happiest I've seen Nicolas in the cellar, making wines he's always dreamed of.
Terroir and prowess make it impossible to separate Pauline Broqua's wines from Carmarans's, but I'd be remiss to say that Pauline's wines are not distinctly her own. Where Nicolas is a son of the region, Pauline is a newcomer making her name in a more conservative part of France. Her wines are a product of two things: perseverance and grace, two essential aspects of Pauline's character. Her wines can be wispy and ethereal, but they are always rooted by a powerful backbone of acid and salts. The fruit has a lighter touch, but the minerality tells a story on your palate. This is a story of extremely difficult vintages, one after another, whereby the grace of Pauline's talent, magnificently beautiful wine has been salvaged. 2022 was a reprieve from disasters, but the wines are marked with their hard-won quality. I have ultimate respect for this new, young winemaker and friend. Her wines are glorious!
The market has changed a lot since I started working with these wines. Wine celebrity, unicorn wines, allocations, instagram... have all made things really weird and distorted. It's never easy to figure out how to parcel out a wine with demand greater than its supply, especially when so much of our job sees extremely deserving wines fall out of fashion and favor daily. Wine is always a matter of fashion, and as much as our company has changed in the past year, we still are trying our best to buy wine that we think tastes the best from people making wine honestly. In this sense, it is a golden age in "natural wine." The worst agricultural offenders are converting vineyards to organic, winemakers are learning to stop using so much so2, and learning to rely on the quality of spontaneous fermentations. We will soon see Sancerre, Bordeaux, Champagne and all the rest (from very serious, Modern domaines) with wines made in a more natural style. This is all the result of artisans and visionaries like Nicolas and Pauline doing the work and suffering through the maelstrom of the market and nature, all the while always making the anti-economic decisions in virtue of beauty, respect for nature, and respect for their consumer.
