{"title":"Clos Larrouyat","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne of our great joys is discovering and sharing delicious wines from unexpected places. Today we take you to the lush green hills of Pau, a tiny village in the shadow of the French Pyrenées.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe’re in the Jurançon appellation, famous for its unctuous, heady dessert wines, but we’re not here for the sticky stuff. More and more, growers in the region have started to gain international attention for their uniquely fresh, mineral-driven dry white wines. Leading this quiet revolution is the dynamic couple of Maxime and Lucie Salharang and their small, yet mighty estate Clos Larrouyat.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWe’ve been obsessed with these deeply nuanced, utterly gorgeous wines for a few years now, but this is the first time that we’ve been able to secure enough wine to share in the newsletter. These are some of the most exciting and delicious French whites we’ve tasted in ages and we can’t wait for you to try them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaxime and Lucie started Clos Larrouyat back in 2011, planting local varieties Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, and the uber-rare Camaralet on land once owned by Maxime’s grandfather. They biodynamically farm just over three hectares of vines growing on a seam of Triassic limestone, imbuing each wine with a distinctive saline minerality. They don't plough, instead letting grass and other cover crops to grow between rows to encourage vitality in the soil, deep-vine rooting, and natural balance that shines through in the glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the cellar, Maxime draws from his training in Bordeaux in harmony with his intuitive, low-intervention touch. The wines are fermented naturally and aged for at least 6 months in neutral barrels sourced from his former employer Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte. The wines are bottled with only a gentle filtration and the barest kiss of sulphur to lock in what Maxime calls the “mineral purity” of the wines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the glass, they are hugely aromatic with vibrant citrus, ripe white stone fruit and wild mountain herbs all framed by crisp acidity and a deliciously saline mineral core. The wines are intense and finely detailed and deliciously unique. We believe that growers dedicated to Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng, with their generous fruit and zingy acidity, are making some of the most exciting wines in France right now. Followers of another Flatiron favorite, the iconic Basque estate Arretxea, already know the singular magic that these grapes can conjure.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/sf.flatiron-wines.com\/collections\/clos-larrouyat.oembed","provider":"Flatiron SF","version":"1.0","type":"link"}