Domaine St Jacques D’Albas, Minervois, France
I first came across this fantastic producer by chance, which is often the way you discover hidden gems. An Ozzy/Irish friend of mine had started a wine business producing his own brand of Pays D’Oc white wine which he was having made by an Ozzy mate of his who was contract wine making for various Domaines and CoOperatives in the Langudoc Roussilon region of France’s Meditteranean coast.
It was a brave move as the intention was to supply the UK Supermarkets in the hope of moving 20,000 litres of wine quickly. However, as everyone knows there are many perils in this strategy and sadly the business floundered on the Supermarket giant’s rocky doorstep.
In moving back to Ireland my mate got in touch and told me his sad business news but said to me that I should get in touch with Domaine St Jacques, one of the smaller Domaine that his Ozzy winemaker mate was doing some winemaking for in the Minervois region. He told me that it was owned by an English gent by the name of Graham Nutter, that a lot of TLC and a fair bit of City cash had been invested in the property and that it was well on the way to taking the region by storm for the quality of the fruit and the wine that was being produced.
I met Graham at the Hotel du Vin in Bristol, had an interesting tasting with the then Sommelier of the Hotel (“I do not drink rose... it is not real wine”) and was immediately excited by the prospect of working with Graham.
What struck me most was the passion that Graham had for putting Domaine St Jacques on the vinous map and the dedication to farming the land and renovating the buildings with regard to the tradition of the region, but modernizing the winemaking facilities to ensure that the quality of the fruit was preserved after it had been picked.
The Domaine St Jacques d’Albas is in the Minervois appellation of the Languedoc and situated some 15 kilometres to the north-east of Carcassonne, the historic 12th century walled city in the department of Aude, France.
Graham and his wife Beatrice became owners of the 75 hectare (180 acres) property in 2001. The property had a long tradition of winemaking (supposedly back to Roman times) but previous owners had concentrated on growing and selling grapes to the local Caves Cooperative, who paid farmers by weight.
Upon purchasing the property Graham set about transforming the land under vine and set upon a vision of producing quality wine. First they set about pruning heavily to cut yields to ensure better juice quality in the fruit and secondly they totally reinvigorated the soils through ‘homeopathic’ mineral treatment and ploughing in plenty of sheep manure. The results are really impressive and have to be tasted!
The estate now grows four red grape varieties – Syrah (35%), Grenache (25%), Carignan (35%) and Mouvedre makes up the rest. The Minervois Appelation laws state that the wine has to include at least two of these varieties.
Domaine St Jacques d’Albas produce four AOC wines all of which are stocked in The Wine Shed.