As my spell in June was coming to an end it was fortunate that Jeff had arranged with one of his longest standing importers to taste though the 2022 vintage wines on the 29th. Emil Broomé and Ulf Ringius have been running Vin & Natur in Malmö, Sweden since 2009 and Jeff has been one of their winemakers for most, if not all, of that time. They were visiting several of their producers in June and were heading home the next day. We started the tasting in the garden, moved into the cellar and finished at the excellent Picamandil wine bar / restaurant in nearby Puissalicon. After months of drought it was unlucky that we ended with a thunderstorm which curtailed the evening. However, a fun evening as you can imagine.

So, let’s start with the white wines. All vintages are 2022 unless shown otherwise. Clairette, macerated for 2 days on skins, was one of the hits of the previous vintage was showing well again, the characteristic bitterness of the grape offering plenty of refreshment. Three different versions of Macabeu were made. Macabeu 2 (though we drank it first) was from young vines at the southerly end of Sainte Suzanne vineyard. There was a cassis note to the wine, surprising in a white wine, zesty, leafy and lengthy, nice.

Macabeu 1 made from the Peilhan vines was given ten days maceration in a concrete egg. It was much more complex than Macabeu 2 with tannins showing to support the white fruits, very dry and lovely. Macabeu 3, the same Peilhan grapes but raised in amphora for six months in total. The difference in vessel was clear with greater concentration and depth. The flavours gathered in the centre of the tongue, white fruits and very long lasting. Not much was made, I am not sure whether it will even be released for sale. It was excellent.

La Vie En Grose is a new wine, made from Carignan Blanc, Grenache Gris and Terret Blanc grapes, macerated for a short time in tank. Dry. clean and direct with clean fruit. The Grenache Gris adds a tint of red making this a very light, onion skin type rosé wine. Amazingly, there was even a red fruit note in the flavours on show. I had a bottle a month later and this is a real gem of a wine.

Amphore Métissé continues the not red wine, métissé means a wine that is a blend of red and white grapes I recall spending a half day carefully sorting the grapes for this, removing every little stalk. Macabeu, Grenache Gris and many other varieties went into the amphora.

This year’s version of the wine is much lighter in colour than previous vintages, very dry, soft tannins with light red fruit flavours, raspberry and cherry. This needs time to settle and soften a little but it’s really good.

To the reds. Ploutelou is a bistro type wine, made for easy drinking and food. Red fruits again, light and far too gluggable. Fast becoming a favourite like the Grenache Mise De Printemps cuvée simply because it is so enjoyable. La Buvette À Paulette is another wine made for early drinking, a little fuller than Ploutelou, made for food. 50% whole bunch Carignan Noir and 50% Grenache from La Garrigue. Good acidity supports the plummy fruit, very nice.

Classe, one of the Coutelou star wines, has been blended from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre this year. Tropical fruit aromas practically jumped out of the glass, red fruits and blackberry flavours followed on. This will maintain the wine’s popularity for sure. Couleurs Réunies has become another regular cuvée in recent years. Jeff told us that there had been an issue with gas in the tank but this had settled after a month or so. It doesn’t have the smoothness of previous bottlings so Jeff is considering giving it a new name and label. Fresh with red fruits, still good.

La Vigne Haute, my favourite. Made as ever with the Syrah from La Garrigue vineyard (just visible in the top photograph next to the white van in the distance), this vintage is very aromatic, cassis leaf, Olaf detected watermelon aromas. The wine was beautifully balanced, good acidity but not too much, light tannins but not too evident, bright fruits but built to age too – it’s a Goldilocks wine, just right. Mourvedre is lighter and spicier than previous vintages, I enjoyed this more, it’s not often one of my preferred wines. Unlike Flambadou, another Coutelou headline act, pure Carignan from Rec D’Oulette. The wine is closed on the nose for the moment but in the glass ripe, concentrated fruits with good acidity, with just a hint of greenness on the finish.

Amphore Syrah 21, made from Ste. Suzanne grapes. This was very pure Syrah, darker than La Vigne Haute. It carried lovely power and concentration, full yet still smooth with dark fruits. Jeff has also made a lovely wine which will be available in magnum only, a blend of La Vigne Haute and the Amphore Syrah. It is the latter which is more apparent for now though Jeff suspects LVH will start to show more with time. This definitely needs some ageing to bring everything to its best but it will be worth the wait, I shall be at the front of the queue.

A very enjoyable evening with good people and excellent wines. There are other 22 wines already on the market such as the Gris De Coeur made from gris grapes such as grenache, carignan and riveyrenc. However, it was good to unveil this promising vintage with wines which are being gently aged in bottle in Jeff’s cellars for now. Make sure to watch for their release, in Sweden or around the world.