The second of Paulette's domaine wines, this year made by infusing whole bunches of Syrah in a press of Gamay, with the addition of the juice of white grapes, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc & Verdesse, from very young vines Paulette has planted close to her home. These new elements take the wine into the realms of the push/pull dynamic she does so well in other cuvées, creating a harmony of opposing forces with intensity and lightness of touch. Seeing the longest élevage of all her wines, 2/3 was pressed into smaller 'fût' barrels and 1/3 to fibreglass cuve to rest for one year before bottling.
The result is a wine of true originality that feels genuinely hard to place - deep, concentrated fruit, with the sort of silky elegance that only patience in the cellar can bring. Aromatics leap from the glass - pastel parma violet and juicy blackcurrant and something earthy, like walking into a cool stone cellar. The white grapes bring a curious element of tinned pineapple fruit and its accompanying lick of acid. Tannins are incredibly fine and delicately frame this riot of fruit - somehow everything seems to make sense. We've honestly not tasted anything remotely comparable and urge you to investigate.
Pauline Maziou is the definition of the grassroots, artisanal winemaker. Paulette, as she is known to her friends, began her Petite Nature project in 2019 with just a half hectare of vines near the village of Quintenas in the north of the Ardèche and a production of around 2000 bottles. The wines were, and still are, made in a tiny cellar beneath her home, that is crammed full of tanks, barrels and various pieces of manual winemaking equipment. It is a cottage industry to say the least, but the wines that emerge from this unassuming space are nothing short of stunning.
Originally from this part of France, she returned to follow the path of winemaking after leaving a media job in the city in pursuit of a lifestyle more in touch with, and in respect of nature. She trained formally before a stretch learning on the job with Jean Delobre of La Ferme des Sept Lunes, as well as the more under-the-radar, but highly influential Daniel Sage; two names one might associate with some of the most expressive wines of the Northern Rhône.
Since then Pauline has slowly increased her output each year, although in the grand scheme production is still resolutely micro. She has planted a small parcel of vines dotted with saplings directly behind her home as part of her own experimental agroforestry project, and she rents some additional surface nearby, which she farms organically with complementary biodynamic treatments. In the cellar the approach is strictly zero-zero; spontaneous fermentations, no filtration and nothing added to the wine at any stage. They are raised patiently until they are ready to be bottled - a bold choice when one has so little to work with, but one that speaks of her commitment to making wine this way.
We were struck by the purity and elegance of Paulette’s wines. They posses a quality one could associate with the Northern Rhône, with the sort of perfume to the reds that can only be achieved from the region’s hot days and cool nights. The decomposed granite soils here lend the mineral imprint and tension reminiscent of some of our favourite Beaujolais, but ultimately there is a plush concentration of fruit and soft-edged texture that make them distinctively her own.
Until now Paulette has focussed on distributing the small amount of wine she has made directly to cavistes in France only, rather than exporting. So with that in mind, we feel very fortunate to be bringing these unique wines to the UK for the very first time.
