LO MAINATGE 91 R.PARKER

•eRobertParker.com # 195 Jun 2011 / David Schildknecht

• Drink: 2011 – 2017

•From tank, the 2009 Minervois Lo Mainatge - this year 70% old vine Grenache and 30% young but head-pruned Syrah, married right after malo-lactic and never shown any wood - aptly illustrates the now-fashionable notion of extraction largely by "infusion," insofar as it is gently-textured as well as sweetly dark-fruited, its pungently medicinal, smoky, peppery, and tart-edged fruit skin impressions serving for invigoration without breaking the wine's sense of seamlessness, and its finish incorporating a lovely sense of lift for all of the wine's 14.5% alcohol fullness. The latter levity, Fabre (like many other SouthernFrench vintners) would have us believe, is attributable in part to high active lime in chalky soils, in the present instance the strikingly white surface for which St.-Jean-de-Minervois (home also to its own appellation for sweet Muscat) is known. A saliva-inducing, umami-rich sense of pan drippings lends this cuvee particular intrigue and appeal. It will receive a light plaque filtration, which has not been known to significantly diminish the virtues of its 2006 or 2007 predecessors. I would expect it to perform beautifully for at least half a dozen years. (I did not have chance to taste the 2008 Lo Mainatge.)

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Michel Fabre continues to do fascinatingly delicious things which one hopes will begin getting into bottle somewhat sooner, not to mention reach our shores in greater volume before long. (For now, much of what is not being sold inside France goes to South America - a major venue for Fabre's work as an oenologist - and an earlier bottling had already been rendered for markets there of one of the cuvees that I tasted from tank.)

LO PAIRE 91 R.PARKER

•eRobertParker.com # 195 Jun 2011 / David Schildknecht

•Drink: 2011 – 2019

•The Croix Saint-Jean 2009 Lo Paire - recently racked into tank when I tasted it - incorporates a small amount of Mourvedre (from six-year-old vines on schiste) as well as 25% Grenache with its majority Syrah. Confitured and candied blackberry and dark cherry acquire counterpoint thanks to pungent rosemary, tar, and cherry pit. Like the corresponding Lo Mainatge cuvee, this displays a saliva-inducing sense of meaty pan-drippings that render its palate-staining finish next-sip compelling. A fine suffusion of tannin and much subtler integration of wood here than in the corresponding 2008, promise a wine worth following for at least 6-8 years.

Michel Fabre continues to do fascinatingly delicious things which one hopes will begin getting into bottle somewhat sooner, not to mention reach our shores in greater volume before long. (For now, much of what is not being sold inside France goes to South America - a major venue for Fabre's work as an oenologist - and an earlier bottling had already been rendered for markets there of one of the cuvees that I tasted from tank.)