Domaine LAROQUE D'ANTAN - Nigrine - Claude et Lydia Bourguignon - Magnum 2018
Domaine Laroque d’Antan is located in Laroque des Arcs, in the Cahors region. It belongs to Claude and Lydia Bourguignon. Claude Bourguignon is a French agricultural engineer, former Research Assistant at INRA and Lydia Bourguignon was a master in Sciences. Together, they founded the Laboratory of Microbiological Analysis of Soils(LAMS), an agronomic consulting company, which sells its services, mainly to wine growers. After more than 30 years traveling the world, they decide to plant their own vineyard. They choose a hillside that has been abandoned for 140 years, with intact biodiversity, and cleared it while conserving hedges and trees. In the midst of the brambles, they found ancient walls that demarcated the plots of three small winegrowers' houses, a caselle, a mule shelter and a well always filled with water. After the soil analyses, they demarcated the zones for the white grape varieties and those for the red grape varieties, endeavoring to restore the forgotten grape varieties of this region of the South-West. All attention is paid to the vines, the harvest is done by hand in crates transported by Effraie, their donkey. Emmanuel (their son) vinifies and matures these grapes without artifice, with indigenous yeasts, to keep in the wine the spirit of the place where the vine grew. Certification in biodynamic agriculture is planned for 2020.
Nigrine 2018 is a blend of Malbec (mass selection from Domaine Corbin-Michotte), Cabernet Franc (mass selection from Domaine Le Clos Rougeard), Prunelard (mass selection from Domaine Robert Plageoles), Cot à Pied Rouge (mass selection from Domaine La Grange) Thiphaine) and Négrette (mass selection from Château Plaisance). Alcoholic fermentation is carried out in concrete vats, with indigenous yeasts. Malolactic fermentation is encouraged. Aging lasts 10 months in oak barrels of 3 to 5 years.
Grape varieties: Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Prunelard, Cot à Pied Rouge, Négrette
