The 2014 edition of the Lafont Presse ‘Classement de Meilleurs Vins de France’ has named La Pèira’s Matissat cuvee best red wine for all of France.
The wine – a pure Mourvèdre – is dubbed “a legend in the making” and garners a perfect (100/100) score.
It featured alongside a field of many of France’s finest producers such as Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse (Pauillac), Château Montrose (Saint-Estèphe), Château Léoville-Barton (Saint-Julien), Château Pape-Clément (Pessac-Léognan), Château de Beaucastel (Châteauneuf-du-Pape), Auguste Clape (Cornas), Guigal (La Landonne – Côte-Rôtie), and Chapoutier (Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape).
Other inclusions from the Languedoc-Roussilion:
Domaine de la Grange des Peres (N° 15), Domaine Peyre Rose (N° 30), Mas Jullien (N° 34), Domaine Gauby’s Muntada (N° 54 ), and Mas de Daumas Gassac (blanc N° 34 ).
Writing on the La Pèira wines, Bertrand Rougier (editor of the Guide Lafont) states:
“In just a few years, La Pèira has established itself as one of the most groundbreaking properties of the Languedoc-Roussillon. Created in 2004, the property now ranks alongside – and in some eyes even above – the best of the best in Bordeaux and Burgundy.”
Guide Lafont Vins de France La Pèira notes
La Pèira 2010 (98/100)
“When the last hint of flavour finally disappears, you can’t help but feel a hint of regret – such are the monumental proportions of this wine.”
(excerpt-link)
Las Flors de la Pèira 2010 (94/100)
“A dangerously delicious wine.”
(excerpt – link)
Obriers de la Pèira 2011 (90/100)
“This wine is a delight from the first … a most affable and engaging wine.”
(excerpt-link)
Matissat 2010 (100/100)
“A legend in the making!”
(excerpt-link)
Full article by Bertrand Rougier (translation by Florence Brutton)
La Pèira – Les Terrasses du Paradis
To taste the wines of La Pèira en Damaisèla is to take a bold step into another world – a better world that unfolds with every sip, extending far beyond the confines of the Terrasses du Larzac appellation. The estate is owned by author-composer, Rob Dougan and barrister, Karine Ahton, ably assisted by young Château Margaux-trained winemaker, Jérémie Depierre. All three can congratulate themselves on a rare achievement of truly monumental proportions!
In just a few years, La Pèira en Damaisèla has established itself as one of the most groundbreaking properties of the Languedoc-Roussillon. Created in 2004, the property now ranks alongside – and in some eyes even above – the best of the best in Bordeaux and Burgundy.
Its name comes from an Occitan stonemason’s adage, Plaçar una pèira en damaisèla, which means ‘place the stone with its best face forward’. At first glance, it’s hard to see how anyone could improve on what was there already: 11 hectares of stony but not meagre soils, in a sunny but breezy location that enjoys a combination of Continental and Mediterranean climate, bordered on one side by the Mas de Daumas Gassac and on the other by La Grange des Pères and the woods of Pauliau [Bois de Pauliau]. Predictably, the yield is very small: less than 9hl/ha for the Grenache and Syrah that make up the La Pèira cuvee. The vines are short-pruned and constantly tended. Desuckering, leaf removal, thinning, green harvesting – work in the vineyard never stops. No-one knows this better than Jérémie Depierre, the man who has turned this naturally well-endowed land into something truly marvelous.
Harvesting is of course entirely manual. The grapes are placed in small crates then taken to the winery in air-conditioned vehicles for double-sorting and de-stemming. Barrel maturation is gloriously unhurried (the La Péira, for instance, ages on fine lees in new barrels for 18 to 24 months) and there is no fining or filtration whatsoever. It is no accident that these wines taste more like the purest nectar than grape juice.
That said, neither the talents and ambitions of the owners nor the quality of the terroir are quite enough to explain the miracle that takes place in every bottle. We can only conclude that these wines must be touched by magic. How else to describe that feeling of almost beatific pleasure that they arouse in the people who taste them – a feeling most of us can remember from childhood but never experience in adult life.
Bertrand Rougier
(full publication with all articles/classement can be purchased/viewed here: Lafont Presse ‘Classement de Meilleurs Vins de France 2014′ )
All Matissat review can be seen here: Matissat reviews.