Domaine de Bon Augure, En Terre Étrangère - 2024
Fast Facts:
Winemaker(s): Cédric Guy
Region: Joncels → Haute Vallée de l'Orb IGP → Languedoc → France
Varietal(s): Chardonnay
Terroir: Clay-limestone soils, ~400m elevation, cool inland mountain climate
Serving Temp: 50-55°F
Cédric Guy grew up in Faugères, the warm schist-driven corner of Languedoc, and made a little name for himself there as co-owner of the Abbaye Sylva Plana. Then 2001 happened. Climate change punched hard forcing an August harvest with alcohols topping 14%, and Cédric started thinking hard about what the next thirty years of warm-climate winemaking were going to look like. So he hatched a novel project: cool-climate Chardonnay ... in southern France ... from up in the cold mountains.
He and his wife Alice got out the geological maps. They spent close to a decade scouring the Hérault hinterland for high, cold limestone country with the kind of dirt that could grow Chardonnay with natural acidity and moderate alcohol. Eventually they found it on the abandoned vineyards of an old Benedictine abbey, way up where Hérault meets Aveyron. Monks had made wine there for centuries, then the place went quiet for 600 years. A local farmer replanted in the 1990s, Cédric took over the project, and Domaine de Bon Augure came to life in 2013.
The vineyards climb steep hillsides at around 400 meters, on a soil profile rare for Languedoc: limestone breccia over iron-rich clay. Warm days, cold nights, long growing season, all biodynamic, la crème de la crème! Cédric named this wine En Terre Étrangère, "in a foreign land," because that's exactly what the move felt like: schist to limestone, warmth to cold, and totally off the beaten path. The 2024 is 100% Chardonnay from 20-year-old vines, gently pressed and aged eight to ten months split between stainless and used barrel.
Why'd we pick it?
Cool-climate Chardonnay from southern France sounds like a contradiction, but the taste proves this smarty pants is onto something even if breaking the rules. Lean, mineral, taut, naturally low in alcohol. We're pretty into winemakers who take the long way around to get a gorgeous result like this.
Field Notes
- Tastes like: Lemon curd and ripe pear, white flowers, and a smidge of toasted almond. Finishes with saline and some mineral vibes. Fun little surprise tension for this far south.
- Serve it cool but not ice-cold. Out of the fridge, give it 10 minutes to open up.
- Food Pairings: Go dig some clams, throw them into some white wine, leeks, and butter, the salty mineral pull in the glass realllllly wants it. Pan-seared ling cod with brown butter and capers is also a pretty nice lean. For you veggie babes, a leek and goat cheese tart sounds like a nice sunny late afternoon. Throw on some crème fraîche and plenty of cracked black pepper.
