Clos du Serres

We’re down in genuinely ‘Wild France’ here, some of it looks just as you’d imagine the French countryside of the 17th Century to be, some of it looks like Namibia and some of it looks quite like the Moon for goodness sake. It’s an astonishing region, small parcels of vines nestle amongst ancient swathes of Mediterranean oaks and tuck into the many and varied folds in the landscape. The soil colours change abruptly and dramatically every few hundred metres and the dominant shoulders of Mount Baudile and its outlying peaks form a vast natural amphitheatre. The light is truly brilliant, it’s teeming with wildlife, criss-crossed with ancient pathways and carpeted with aromatic wild herbs. 

Andrew Jefford was similarly impressed…

 “Where is the greatest terroir in Languedoc? You could make a case for Faugères, for Pic St Loup, for parts of St Chinian, for Minervois La Livinière, maybe for La Clape, but after my trip I have to say that if you were to write me out a cheque for a million euros and tell me to go to find somewhere to make great red wine, I would look most closely of all at Terrasses du Larzac.”

It helps of course if you’re being guided around the region by Beatrice Fillon from the modest but very clever and very smart, Clos du Serres. We’d been looking for some time for an estate in the Terrasses du Larzac and we are thrilled to have met up with Beatrice and Sebastien. For us, seriously, Clos du Serres is absolutely one of the standout properties in the region. 15ha across 15 different individual plots covering all the different soil types. They’ve some properly old vines, some rare clones and a lovely gentle way with the wines. The winery itself has small volume fermentation facilities so that each plot is vinified separately. They have two very desirable, very eye-catching conical concrete Tronconais… Perfect for keeping ‘shape’ in the Grenache in particular.

These are wines that genuinely speak to you, they are fine, they are drinkable, complete, absolutely bursting with life and there’s just the faintest touch of ‘The Wild’ about them. They are a very exciting new addition to our portfolio.