Two names two skill sets

At Calmel & Joseph, we are committed to the concept of freshness, finesse and elegance in our wines. Being located in a Mediterranean and therefore hot region, we look for terroirs which are as cool as possible, often found at the edge of wine growing areas in the mountain foothills. Once we have decided on the terroir, we look for vineyard plots which are worked as naturally as possible, because we believe that it is from these vineyards that wines with the greatest complexity, but above all the strongest personality, are produced. Once our criteria are met, we meet the wine grower and offer him/her a partnership on the selected plots.

The harvest date is very important in our vinification process as it determines the wine’s future balance. We try to preserve acidity as this is the backbone of our future wine, but still respect the organoleptic maturity of the grape. Once the set harvest date arrives, the grapes are hand-picked, de-stemmed and sorted. Some of our wines are naturally fermented with indigenous yeasts, others use cultured yeasts. Depending on the vintage, we of course try to use the pigeage (punching down of the cap) technique to ensure we do not end up with wines which are too “extracted” or too rustic. Temperatures are controlled to preserve maximum fruit and freshness while respecting the grape variety’s typical characteristics.
Malolactic fermentation takes place in vats after alcoholic fermentation. The wine is then transferred into tanks for traditional ageing and our top end wines go into barrels.

Blending is probably the most difficult part of our winemaking process. We need to respect the personality of our terroir, the wines’ current balance as well as the future life of our wine. To do this, both experience and objectivity are required in order to intellectualize or imagine the wine before it is blended, because the base wines for our blends change every year. We take our samples and work through the tasting, grape variety by grape variety, vat by vat, barrel by barrel. Once the blending is completed “in theory”, we carry it out in practice. We taste the wine again after a few weeks to refine it further, if necessary, before bottling. This is when we decide whether or not to fine the wine, to filter or not, and whether any last minor adjustments are necessary before bottling.

Traditional ageing is carried out in concrete tanks for 16-18 months. We rack the wine to remove the coarse lees but ensure we retain the fine lees. Sometimes we rack the wine after 6 to 12 months if we feel that the wine is too closed. Barrel-ageing is carried out in various size barrels. We use barrels from 225 to 450l as well as 2000l casks. We use little new wood, preferring to use barrels that have contained a white wine for 3-6 months. The barrels are topped up regularly and tasted to monitor the wine’s development.