Tenuta i Fauri

First and foremost a family business, the thirty-five hectare Tenuta i Fauri vineyard has been dedicated to producing delicious wines for generations. Chix first met the winemaker Luigi di Camillo at a local tasting in Abruzzo.  His wines immediately stood out from the rest as having great structure and elegance, reflecting the geography of the region. Luigi’s father, a frank and extrovert wine maker has now passed the baton to Luigi and works in the vineyard tending the vines.

Luigi’s sister Valentina runs the business, while mum runs the wine shop. Warm, friendly and generous, they are passionate about making good wine.

• Abruzzo is in central Italy
• Italy produces 1000s of different grapes. The three main grapes in Abruzzo are Montepulciano, Trebbiano and Pecorino.
• Pecorino is a grape that had been forgotten for many years and has had a renaissance over the last ten years. Not to be confused with the cheese!

Mas d’Intras

Mas d’Intras is in Valvigneres which was originally known as Vallis Vinnaria meaning the valley of the vines.  It is a family owned vineyard in the Ardeche, South East France and the land has been in the family for over 4 centuries.  Alphonse Robert had been working on the family land since 1943 and after many years of working with the local Cave Co operative, Alphonse and his wife Francoise started their own estate, Mas d’Intras in 1982. 

The  vineyard is now owned and run by their 2 sons, Denis & Emmanuel Robert and their cousin Sebastien Pradal. 

• The Ardeche is on the right bank of the Rhone and its wines are Vin de Pays des Coteaux de l’Ardeche.
• A Vin de Pays wine (VDP) is a wine made in a particular region from a list of allowable grape varieties and also subject to testing and analysis.  VDP regions are larger and not as restrictive than the AOC ones and the choice of grape varieties is wider. 
• All New World Wines are effectively Vin de Pays, they have no equivalent of AOC wines.
• The Ardeche produces 3 types of red grapes: Grenache, Syrah & Carignan.
• Mas d’Intras is a small family run vineyard producing only approximately 20,000 bottles of each wine per annum.

The following describes the key ethical points and sustainable methods:

• Mas d'Intras has been using natural and organic methods for more than 10 years and will be certified organic by 2011.
• They use grass between the vines to improve rainwater penetration and reduce weed growth. The vineyard is now 100% herbicide free.
• Minimum levels of sulphite are used and they do not use tartaric acid to balance alcohol/sugar levels.
• They use sun heated tanks for the second fermentation process.
• They do not use metatartaric acid, ascorbic acid, gum-arabic, citric acid which are commonly added at the stage of bottling.
• The red wines are not filtered.
• The use of light-weight bottles. Mas d’Intras uses light weight bottles weighing 300g instead of 550g which is the typical weight of a traditional bottle. The vineyard estimates that it saves 30 tons of glass in one year in addition to reducing their carbon footprint due to being able to transport more bottles at any one time.

J & L Charlemagne

In 1921, after fleeing the rise of fascism in Italy, Lucien Charlemagne, a former employee of the Lanson wine cellars in Reims, Champagne, arrived in Angouleme, Cognac, with the idea of producing sparkling wine using the Methode Traditionelle.  In 1963, the estate was passed on to his children who continued to work and produce wine in the traditional method until their retirement in 1981.  The cave was bought by the Bouyer family and is now owned and run by Emmanuel Bouyer, who worked with his father on the estate for over 15 years.  He has also recently bought La Maison des Maines from Heriard Dubreuil, the owner of Remy Martin Cognac. 

The Charlemagne vines are planted in the best Cognac terroirs, Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne. 

• All Charlemagne sparkling wines are made in Methode Traditionelle.
• Michel, Charlemagne’s oenologist (winemaker) has created a unique sparkling wine blending 99% chardonnay with 1% XO cognac.  The cognac is also from the Charlemagne estate.
• XO is the term used for Extra Old where the youngest cognac is stored for at least 6 but average upwards of 20 years.
• J & L Charlemagne produce approximately 150,000 bottles of Sparkling XO and 60,000 bottles of Brut Rose a year from vines planted in the finest Cognac terroirs.
• Channel 4’s The F Word series 5, has chosen the Charlemagne Brut Rose for their diners to drink before dinner throughout the series.

La Maison des Maines

La Maison des Maines was founded by the Heriard Dubreuil family, owners of Remy Martin Cognac, in 2002.  As experts of the Grande Champagne terroir, they cover more than 100 hectares in the Charente and Charente-Maritime area in the heart of the finest cognac terroirs.  La Maison des Maines launched Mainart in 2007 which is a range of Vin de Pays Charentais.

The name Mainart is a combination of the word “Maine”, which in the Poitou-Charente region means estate or house, and “Art” which reflects the winegrower’s and cellar master’s passionate work.

Earlier this year, Monsieur Dubreuil sold the estate to one of the top wine producers in Charente, Emmanuel Bouyer, owner of J & L Charlemagne.

• The region Cognac has 6 different terroirs.  The top terroir is Grande Champagne followed by Petite Champagne.
• Terroir is a French term and concept used to denote the special characteristics that geography has given to particular varieties.  Some of the components described of terroir include climate and soil type.
• In France, the concept of terroir is a way of describing the unique aspects of a place that influences and shapes the wine made from it.
• La Maison des Maines produce approximately 130,000 bottles of Chardonnay and 30,000 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc a year from vines planted in the finest Cognac terroirs.