2012 Les Fainéants Mourvedre, Opi d’Aqui ($26)
Opi d’Aqui, located in one of the best wine-growing areas of the Languedoc region, is owned by international entrepreneur Alain Coumont, proprietor of the Belgian-based restaurant/bakery group Le Pain Quotidien. At Opi d’Aqui (which means “opium of here!”), Alain partners with natural wine-maker Philippe Formentin to produce fantastic artisanal wines. The two of them follow a careful regimen of organic and biodynamic practices. For this label (there are now five other wines made here), Mourvèdre grapes grow on soils that combine rich clay with minerally limestone. The ripe grapes are always hand-harvested on cool autumnal mornings. 24 hours of cold storage starts the slow fermentation process—with indigenous yeast only. The wines are juiced through a manual vertical press, aged, decanted and bottled without filtration—all to allow the natural flavors of the raw material to shine in the glass. The 2012 is wildly fruity, with heady fumes of blackberry jam. Fruit-sweet entry, which evolves into a luscious mouthful of dry red wine. I recently poured it a Boeuf Bourguignon dinner next to a red Burgundy; with the stew, it was the overwhelming preference of the group! Dramatic juice, to be sure!
