Domaine Capmartin Tannat Pur Jus

About Domaine Capmartin Tannat Pur Jus

Domaine Capmartin Tannat Pur Jus is a wine made with 100% Tannat from the Madiran region but marked as Vin de France instead of Madiran. Made with a commitment to no additional sulfur, this wine appeals to the natural wine crowd or people that might have an aversion to Madiran because of its ferocious structure. The wine showcases the heady and often overlooked aromatics of Tannat. The rarely noticed rarefied notes of wild blueberries, pluot, and grenadine are prominent and eminently enjoyable with this lighter vin de soif take.

About Domaine Capmartin

The domaine is housed in the former Convent of Maumusson-Laguian, surrounded by vineyards of old-vine Tannat and with an imposing view of the Pyrenees.

These vines have been worked for centuries, but the history of Domaine Capmartin itself only opens in 1985, when Guy Capmartin decided to break off from the family estate and create his own domaine. Around 20 years later, in 2007, he became convinced that organic agriculture was the only way to go and converted Capmartin to organic and biodynamic farming. In 2013 after five years of dedicated and passionate learning, he was able to become certified, and the domaine has never looked back. When his son Simon took over soon after that, he showed the same unwavering commitment to organic and biodynamic work in the vineyards and has continued in his father’s footsteps while bringing a fresh young perspective into the domaine.

The vineyards are planted with Gros Manseng and Petit Courbu on the white side (under the uniquely named appellation of Pacherenc du Vic Bilh Sec), and mostly Tannat with some Cabernet Sauvignon on the red (Madiran AOP and IGP Côtes de Gascogne) side. Soils are clay-based with plenty of large stones, ideal for drainage and ripening. Being certified organic, the domaine never uses synthetic chemicals, but instead works with copper, sulfur, and clay in moderate doses, to which they add an organic plant mixture (hortie, horsetail, comfrey), to stimulate the natural defenses of the plant. The grass is grown in between the vine to stimulate competition.

In the winery, only 70-hectoliter concrete vats are used, and the fact that they are open-top allows the pigeages to be extracted instead of the traditional pumping over or out, giving the wines a deep fruitiness and round, silky tannins–neither of which are common in wines from Tannat. Wines are raised in used 500-liter barrels, allowing a better balance between wood and wine, so as not to mask the unique characteristics of these grapes and their terroir.