Arbalete and Coquelicots 2016 Aude IGP

Dark black red. Rock smoke and licorice. Spiced texture. Rising minerals. Warming and drying. Sour climbs to bitter fruit tannins. Green clusters of fruit.

80% Grenache 20% Syrah certified AB from clay and limestone in the Minervois. Jean-Baptiste Senat took over the family estate, converted to organic and makes seven cuvees with indigenous Mediterranean grapes, Grenache at the core. Natural and without additives. Whole clusters, 10 day fermentation, and elevated in the tank over the winter.

A Table!!! Rose 2016 VdF

Red stank. Cranberry soil. Lovely fresh. Thick gelatin skins. Pink dirt. Worms. Guys named Gerry, baby food. Less rose, more light red. Won't last.

Another banger from Fabien Jouves. Most websites say 50/50 blend of Malbec and Merlot from clay and limestone hillsides in Cahors, Certified AB and Demeter, like all his other natural wines. Again his own website lists it as 100% Malbec, so while it's assumed he knows what the cepage is, someone has to make these tech sheets. Telephone game anyone?

Hand picked, saignee, fermented in concrete tanks, elevated for six months on the lees in barriques, slight filtration, less than 30mg/l sulphur.

Les Chardons 2015 Touraine AOC

Grapey purple. Fruity rocks. Flint jam. Arrowheads in berry juice. Activated acid, blammo body. Bodacious. Pretty, off sweet, dank blanket. Stale quilt from a musty chest on a last cool night of Spring.

100% Gamay from 115 Acres of poor chalk and Silex soils in the Loire. Partial Carbonic, fermented in steel, let to rest in underground concrete tanks until bottling. The winery is new built by Sophie and Thierry Chardon. They converted over to AB certified organic and never looked back.