Mouthes le Bihan L’Aime Chai

About Mouthes le Bihan L’Aime Chai

Mouthes le Bihan L’Aime Chai is an easy drinking claret-style red. Juicy cherry and blackberry, spice, and earthy herbs.

About Mouthes le Bihan

Mouthes Le Bihan’s winery is located in the Cotes de Duras, an appellation situated between Bergerac, Entre-Deux-Mers, and the Marmandais. It is a small appellation of 2,000 ha where the Bordeaux grapes strive alongside Chenin Blanc. The lovely proprietors, Jean-Mary and Catherine le Bihan are farmers. Today, they organically grow cereals, sunflowers and raise Arabian horses. They own 27 ha of vines spread in many different parcels. Their first vintage was in 2000. The goal is to make honest wine as naturally as possible. Therefore, all the efforts are centered on the vineyards, old vines, managed yields, plowing of the soil, no chemicals (except copper and sulfur), manual harvest in small baskets, and strict sorting. In the cellar, minimum intervention is the way to go, only indigenous yeasts, and no other additions.

About Côtes de Duras

Côtes de Duras is an appellation for red, white, and rosé wines produced in a corner of South West France, 70km (43 miles) due east of Bordeaux. The vineyard area is effectively an eastern extension of that of Entre-Deux-Mers, lying on the other side of the administrative department of the Gironde in Lot-et-Garonne.

The region covers 15 communes in a northern protrusion of the Lot-et-Garonne department. To the immediate northeast is the Dordogne department and the vineyards of Bergerac (Bergerac town is 25km/16 miles to the northwest).

To the northwest is an isolated section of basic Bordeaux AOC land. Entre-Deux-Mers lies beyond this and also immediately to the southwest of the Côtes de Duras. Indeed, Côtes de Duras’ southern boundary is the Dropt river which flows west into the lower portion of Entre-Deux-Mers before joining the Garonne.

The vineyards here have been producing wine for centuries and over time, have been associated with both the Bordeaux and Bergerac regions. Côtes de Duras has been an officially recognized appellation since it became an AOC in 1937, a lot earlier than many other Sud-Ouest appellations.

The focal point of the region is the town of Duras, which lies on a river-carved plateau of hills and valleys that is bounded to the south by the Dropt river valley. Broadly speaking, the landscape faces south, and the land rises gradually from the river to the hills along the northeastern border.

Côtes de Duras vineyards are largely planted on the elevated limestone slopes rather than on the gravel soils that are common further west. Instead, chalky, clayey limestone soils dominate vineyards at the top of the slopes, while sandy “boulbènes” soils are found in the lower-lying land nearer the river. These soils are good for viticulture and retain sufficient water for vine hydration without waterlogging the plants.

The maritime climate here is not dissimilar to that of Bordeaux, although being slightly further from the coast there is a little more seasonal variation. Mild springs encourage early bud break, while warm, sunny summers provide excellent opportunities for ripening, particularly given the area’s generally southerly exposure.

In autumn, morning fog followed by warm afternoons is conducive to the development of Botrytis cinerea, and some sweet white wines are made under the Côtes de Duras appellation.

Permitted grape varieties in the Côtes de Duras wines borrow heavily from their Bordeaux cousins, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec (Cot), and Cabernet Franc making up the red and rosé wines, which can be produced as single varietal wines or blends.

The main varieties are Sauvignon Blanc and Gris, Sémillon, Muscadelle, Mauzac, Chenin Blanc and Ondenc. Any combination of these must account for at least half of a white blend.

There are also two “accessory” white varieties: Colombard and Ugni Blanc. Colombard cannot account for more than ten percent of any vineyard or wine in the region.