Besides their vineyard, the Quinquarlets also raise exotic birds, which explains their logo and wine labels.
A former French postal employee and a dentist may seem like an unlikely winemaking couple. Yet former fonctionaire Martine Quinquarlet and her husband, Jean Luc, have created a well-respected vineyard in the Terrasses du Larzac subzone of the Coteaux du Languedoc appellation, a mineral-rich area that is thought by many to be the finest terroir in the Languedoc.
In addition to producing several AOC red wines, along with an AOC rosé, the Domaine de Familongue also produces several noteworthy vin de pays wines, including Le Carignan de Familongue, a perennial award winner in the annual UK-based Top 100 Vins de Pays competition. It was my interest in vin de pays wine, which represent some of the best value-for-money wines in France, that led me to contact the Quinquarlets. There was also my curiosity about their success with the much-maligned Carignan grape that is seeing somewhat of a comeback after having been labeled in the 1990s as the primary source of the EU wine lake.
The Carignan grape traces its origins to Spain, where it isn’t much planted today. It got its roots in France, if you’ll excuse the pun, following frosts in 1956 and 1963 that killed the country’s then number one wine vine, the Aramon. After the loss of Algeria, which had provided tanker loads of low-quality wine (most of it carignan) for more-thirsty-than-discriminating wine drinkers, French wine growers planted carignan throughout the Midi and Mediterranean regions. This indiscriminate planting in fertile areas that accentuated Carignan’s high-yield propensity (up to 200 hl/ha) was a recipe for disaster. By 1979 there were 207,000 ha of Carignan planted in France. Largely because of the EU vine pull scheme that has now been reduced to less than 100,000 ha.
Wine made from Carignan grapes tends to be high in alcohol, tannins, and acidity, making it unattractive to drink early and giving it little ability to age gracefully. Some less-than-diplomatic wine critics have issued tasting notes for Carignan wines that refer to “manurey” animal odors; more diplomatic critics sometimes mention “harsh” or “green” or “acrid” aromas.
Carignan enthusiasts have realized that the problem with Carignan has less to do with the grape itself than with where it’s planted. Older Carignan vines, when planted in poor soil and subjected to low-yield viticulture, can produce concentrated wine with aromas of chocolate, dark fruit and finely balanced tannins.
Martine Quinquarlet
The Quinquarlets are among the growing number of wine growers throughout the Languedoc-Roussillion region who have been re-inventing this rustic grape, both with the predominantly carignan Le Carignan de Familongue, and by blending it with other classic Mediterranean red grape varieties.
The 28-ha Domaine de Familongue is located just west of Montpellier. The zone’s climate has wide temperature variations but its distance from the sea and proximity to the Causse du Larzac, a limestone plateau forming the southern boundary of France’s Massif Central, means it enjoys relatively cool summer nights. The freshness of the evenings allows the grapes to mature slowly and steadily, enhancing their color and further developing the wines’ aromatic qualities.
The domain consists of two distinct, yet adjacent, properties that run north and south of the village of Saint André de Sangonis. The vineyard north of the village is predominately cryoclastic limestone gravel in a layer of sandy clay soil. South of the village, the vineyard soil consists of pebbles and sand deposited by the Herault river. The soil in both vineyards is well drained and of a poor quality, making it perfect for grape growing. The Quinquarlets do not practice single-vineyard bottling from particular parcels, choosing instead to blend grapes from throughout their two properties. This blending, they say, gives their wine additional complexity.
Sustainable wine growing practices are used to promote soil heath, to increase wine grape productivity and to promote biodiversity. In place of herbicides, they use a device known as an Intercep, or “side hoe” (YouTube video), which uses hydraulically controlled blades to remove weeds without damaging the vines. One out of every two rows in the vineyard is left unmown to attract insects. And in place of pesticides, they use a compost that is a mixture of the remains of the grapes after pressing, hay and manure from their own horses.
Jean Luc Quinquarlet explained that agricultural engineering had been his first choice of study when he was in the lycée (high school). Unfortunately, he said, he had the math teacher from hell. This teacher graded on a wicked curve that basically took the normal grade scale of zero to twenty and lowered it to a negative-five-to-positive-six range. Although his grades were good, relative to the others in his class who were also facing this sadistic grading curve, his application to the prestigious engineering schools that make or break a career in France were rejected. After some reflection, he went to dental school, and he’s happy being a dentist.
But his love of farming resurfaced in the mid-1980s, and the Quinquarlets purchased an initial four-hectare property with olive trees (they also make and sell an excellent olive oil). They continued adding property, selling their grapes to the local cooperative until 2002 when they constructed a wine cellar and began making their own wine. They now own 25 ha of grape vines and 10 ha of olive trees. The age of their vines is 40 to 70 years old for the Carignan, 35 to 40 for the Grenache, 20 to 25 for the Syrah, and 40 years old for the Cinsault.
Their 2006 Le Carignan de Familongue is a serious wine, with a meaty mid-plate and an attractive background of wild herbs and dark fruits. Traditional vinification is used for 75% of the wine, while 25% is vinified using carbonic maceration. Jean Luc Quninquarlet said that they went from a yield for their Carignan vines from 37 hl/ha in 2006 to 42 hl/ha in 2007. They have discovered, he explained, that too low a yield for Carignan gives you a wine that is trop fermer, or too tight. This is related to the soil richness, and, I suppose, the tannins in the wine. A different terroir that consists of less rich soil, he said, can go for a lower yield, like 25 hl/ha. He also said that, in his view, Cariganan should be drunk within two or three years. Kept longer, and there was the risk of it developing those “animal” odors.
Les Trois Naissances, an AOC red, is produced with a vinification intégrale process. The handpicked and carefully selected grapes are first destemmed and crushed. The grapes, which come from vines with an average yield of around 23-24 hl/ha, are placed in new, or second-year, oak barrels that are rolled over four times a day. During the long maceration (five weeks), micro-oxygenation is done two to five times. The wine is aged on fine lees in these same barrels for 12 months. The lees are stirred once a week in the winter and once every two weeks in the spring.
Les Trois Naissances is made from the five traditional grape varieties in the AOC Coteaux du Languedoc: Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Cinsult and Carignan. Its rich color with crimson undertones sets off nicely the black and red fruit aromas that are blended with olives and lightly toasted licorice. This nicely balanced wine, with its full-bodied, velvety taste, will get more complex after aging for three to six years.
There do exist French winemakers who think it’s your fault if you don’t like what they put in the bottle. The Quinquarlets are not in that camp, however. They belong to a new generation of modern, forward-thinking French winemakers who are targeting more discriminating wine drinkers. And their intelligent use of the Carignan grape shows that they’re making headway.
