It sits high on a pinnacle of limestone at the confluence of the Cesse and the Rieussec, hidden in a mountain valley behind the first range of mountains after the vast Mediterranean plain. Just upstream is the village of Minerve, which gives its name to the appellation of Minervois. La Caunette, for its etymological part, is Occitan, referring to small cave dwellings in ancient times, the locals lived in caves burrowed into the cliff. Cesse shares the root word of cease and cessation, because in summer this river stops running. The village essentially is a one-street village strung along a bench at the base of a tall limestone cliff that towers above the Cesse River. The wines from Coupe Roses have excellent acidity and freshness, which Françoise adores, without any plodding, overripe character, which she avoids like the plague.įrançoise’s father hails from Brittany (Le Calvez turns out to be a common Breton name), but her mother’s side of the family has been in La Caunette for at least twelve generations.
Stronghold kingdoms wine full#
At 750 to 1,350 feet above sea level, these zones have relatively cool nights and the growing season is the longest in the AOC (domaines down on the plain often begin harvesting a full two weeks earlier). These two delimited areas make up the highest growing zones in the Minervois appellation. Their vineyards are in Le Causse and Le Petit Causse (a causse refers to an enormous outcropping of exposed rock- in this case, limestone-that supports little more than garrigue and can cultivate little more than olives and vines). The Poet from the Loire) work their domaine with passion and acumen high in the Mediterranean hinterlands. Françoise Le Calvez and her enologist husband Pascal Frissant (a.k.a.
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