2018 Gros & Tollot La 50 50 Côtes du Brian IGP, Minervois, Languedoc-Roussillon

Daughter of Francois Gros , “the lady” of Burgundy, Anne Gros has been in charge of her father estate since 1988 today renamed Domaine Anne Gros, she is famous for her outstanding red Burgundies especially her Grand Cru Richebourg. Jean Paul Tollot her husband is from the Tollot-Beaut Family in Chorey les Beaune and is renown for making the best wines out of the difficult terroir of the Chorey appellation. Together they decided to join their skills to make wine in the Minervois.

Their winemaking approach is very reminiscent of their work in Cote d’Or, with a total destemming of the grapes and a long aging in barrels for the top cuvees; they even use the traditional Burgundy bottle for their wines.

Tollot and Gros are making Minervois wines like no others in the area, wines that always bear a certain Burgundian signature, with very supple tannins and a delicate freshness of fruit. They have managed to make wonders out of the unjustly neglected grape of Carignan and Cinsault and found the perfect way to let it express the varietals’ full potential along with the singularity of the terroir.

Majority Grenache blended with Syrah and Carignan A selection of fruit from a northfacing estate vineyard. Soils combine marl, limestone and sandstone. Grenache and Carignan vines are 30 to 40 years old; Syrah vines are 10+ years old.