Following the meandering Garonne, it is well worth the effort to find this property. You have to enter a small valley to find this 0.8 hectare micro-property. The wines from this complex terroir are individually crafted and closely supervised by Gilles Hébrard, the third generation of the family to produce wines from this distinctive terroir.
To understand the wine and the family who work this land, it’s necessary to imagine airy hillsides under the beneficial influence of the river, and a cellar deeply embedded in the limestone cliff, masked by ivy. The cellar, carved out of an old quarry, regulates temperature to perfection without the use of any energy, since 30 meters of earth cover the entire area. A perfect temperature, stabilized at 14 degrees all year round.
As for the winemaker, he has the mischievous smile of someone who knows he’s making a good product. After a few explanations and a tour of the winery, we headed for the hillside with no sign of where the treasures of Clos Carmelet are hidden. A quick stroll up the hillside and we entered a passageway carved into the stone. An entrance worthy of an epic fantasy as you push aside a thick curtain of ivy, with a passageway leading to the Clos’ ageing cellar. We’d call this visit Orphic, since it’s a quest underground. A search for a precious element. As the ancients well knew, no one ever comes back from a journey underground.
If we go back to the etymology of Carmelet, we see that it was a place of religious contemplation. The place is as it should be. An energy vibrates in the cavern walls. The oenological pipette tasting is worthy of the place’s reputation. In the whirlwind of life, which seems to go faster and faster, contemplation is fundamental. It’s the only way to free the mind from the contingencies of space and time and refocus on what’s essential. That’s what I felt at Clos Carmelet. The winery is hidden from the world by an ivy canopy, where no technological intervention is involved in the maturing of the wine, but rather the inertia of this rocky mass that gives Gilles Hébrard’s wines such a distinctive note. Each wine produced here is thought through, measured and crafted in the quest for continuous improvement. Gilles is a rather quiet man, but he is attentive to the reactions of his visitors and takes their comments into account. He makes well-crafted wines in such a special place.
Tasting in the caves gives meaning to this wine. A synthesis between the hillside overlooking the Garonne and bathed in its beneficial influence, and the coolness of the caves that gives a trajectory of gourmet freshness to these wines.
I was able to taste a 2014 liquoreux made using the Sauternes method, numbered by hand. Passion prevails. A beautiful shimmering color with aromas of candied fruit, pineapple and good length on the palate.
The reds have a certain freshness but also a strength due to barrel ageing in this underground location.
A visit and a fine oenological experience in an unusual place far from the beaten track, in a fine definition of wine.
