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2020 Pic Saint Loup “Guilhem Gaucelm”
Héritage du Pic Saint Loup
The Ravaille brothers’ top cuvée is composed of their oldest vines and is named for the first known steward of this land, Guilhem Gaucelm, a sharecropper of the Comte de Maguelone in the thirteenth century. Evoking dark fruit, leather, and spice, this southern French rouge delivers a palate-full of earthy complexity wrapped in an incredibly smooth texture. Rhône Valley, look out!
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2020 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 50% Syrah, 50% Grenache |
Appellation: | Pic Saint Loup |
Country: | France |
Region: | Languedoc-Roussillon |
Producer: | Héritage du Pic Saint Loup |
Vineyard: | 2 ha, 85 years |
Soil: | White clay, round stones |
Farming: | Biodynamic (practicing) |
Alcohol: | 14.5% |
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About The Producer
Héritage du Pic Saint Loup
Héritage du Pic St-Loup dates back to the Middle Ages, as the former home of the bishops of Maguelone. The limestone peak or “pic” perched above the vineyards was named for the legendary Saint Thieri Loup. In 1992, the Ravaille brothers joined forces to plant a vineyard here in what has traditionally been land dominated by sheep farming and cheese production. The Ravaille family has been in the Languedoc for over a thousand years, long enough to have known Saint Loup personally. These brothers have been on a noble quest of their own to create serious wine that expresses the complexity of their terroir. The three fish on the label’s emblem therefore not only evoke the story of Saint Loup, but also their fraternal collaboration.
About The Region
Languedoc-Roussillon
Ask wine drinkers around the world, and the word “Languedoc” is sure to elicit mixed reactions. On the one hand, the region is still strongly tied to its past as a producer of cheap, insipid bulk wine in the eyes of many consumers. On the other hand, it is the source of countless great values providing affordable everyday pleasure, with an increasing number of higher-end wines capable of rivaling the best from other parts of France.
While there’s no denying the Languedoc’s checkered history, the last two decades have seen a noticeable shift to fine wine, with an emphasis on terroir. Ambitious growers have sought out vineyard sites with poor, well draining soils in hilly zones, curbed back on irrigation and the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and looked to balance traditional production methods with technological advancements to craft wines with elegance, balance, and a clear sense of place. Today, the overall quality and variety of wines being made in the Languedoc is as high as ever.
Shaped like a crescent hugging the Mediterranean coast, the region boasts an enormous variety of soil types and microclimates depending on elevation, exposition, and relative distance from the coastline and the cooler foothills farther inland. While the warm Mediterranean climate is conducive to the production of reds, there are world-class whites and rosés to be found as well, along with stunning dessert wines revered by connoisseurs for centuries.
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Where the newsletter started

Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch