Domaine de Fontsainte 2023 Corbieres Rouge, Languedoc

If you’ve been shopping with The Wine Country over the years, the name Domaine de Fontsainte will be familiar to you because of our annual order of the popular rosé called Gris de Gris.  It is one of our original wines from 30 vintages ago.  Recently, we became re-acquainted with the estate’s anchoring red wine and came away so impressed it was an instant selection for our March Wine of the Month. Now the 2023 vintage has arrived and we're continuing the streak.

Corbieres is a large region in the south of France on the Languedoc side of the Rhone river.  As you drive 30 minutes west of Narbonne toward Carcassonne, Fontsainte’s vineyards surround the town of Boutenac in the area’s Golden Crescent, a far cry from the arid climate further east and inland where the gnarly vines like like upside down roots poking out.  For most of its history—the area was originally planted by the Romans—these vines provided the material for the cheap plonk that filled the wine jugs of peasants all over France.  Up until the 1970s only a handful of dedicated vintners were making interesting wines, and Fontsainte was one of them; Kermit Lynch discovered this estate early on and has been working with the family ever since.

This bottle is mostly old-vine Carignan with 30% Grenache and 10% Syrah, the latter to help flesh out the flavor and texture.

 “You can count on just two hands the growers we’ve worked with for four decades or more.  Joining such families as the Peyrauds (Domaine Tempier) and Bruniers (Vieux Télégraphe) in that company are the Laboucariés of Domaine de Fontsainte, who, for years, have crafted ethereal and delicious rosés and soulful, terroir-driven reds in the Languedoc’s Corbières appellation halfway between Montpellier and the Spanish border.

Their vineyards surround the hamlet of Boutenac in one of the sunniest stretches of Corbières. But when you taste the family’s lively rouge, you might be surprised to find this is not a robust wine concentrated by long hours of intense sunshine. Boutenac’s warmth is balanced by cooling sea breezes and by Fontsainte’s old vines whose roots dig deep for water and keep the grapes refreshed.

As a result, this Corbières rouge epitomizes finesse and charm. Bruno Laboucarié blends two parts Carignan with one part Grenache and a splash of Syrah to produce a vibrant country red that mixes the trademark notes of the South—black cherries, spice, and brambly fruit—with beguiling elegance and drinkability. Bring a bottle or two to your next barbecue for a smash hit.”—Tom Wolf, Kermit Lynch Imports