DomaineJonesFitou

Domaine Jones Fitou is a full bodied, big and bold wine full of ripe spicy fruit. National delivery available. 01727 865309

Intro to Domaine Jones Fitou-

Domaine Jones Fitou is a full bodied, big and bold wine full of ripe spicy fruit.

Full tasting note and wine making �/h2>

Complex, smooth and succulent, with pure hedgerow fruit. Domaine Jones Fitou is made from grapes from fifteen of my very small vineyards scattered around the villages of Tuchan and Paziols in the Languedoc. The secret of my Fitou is definitely in the age of the vines �most of them are over one hundred years old and bring freshness, depth and a beautiful texture to the wine.

Fitou is not the name of a grape but the name of a small village on the Mediterranean coast between Narbonne and Perpignan. There are eight other villages that are allowed to produce Fitou, five in the low lying coastal area and four inland on the higher ground of the Corbières mountains.

The producer �/h2>

To say Katie looks for vineyards no-one else wants would only be a slight exaggeration. Most other growers in the area wouldn’t be interested in her modest twelve hectares of vines spread across vineyards in Maury (her first), Paziols and Tuchan. The sites are too small, too remote and too much like hard work. she looks for low yields with high quality, and the rather poor, sloping ground that the very old, traditional vines cling to gives her just that.

It means most of the work including harvesting has to be done by hand, but the results are more than worth the toil.

Domaine Jones started out with a wine making philosophy to which they’ve stuck which is to vinify the vineyards separately, rather than mixing, so they know the quality coming from each. This method requires a lot of space, so they’ve bought something that has it in abundance, an old train shed. Finished in 1905 in the village of Tuchan, it was used as overnight accommodation for the Tuchan Express, a steam train that could reach speeds of up to 5mph.

Closed in 1935, this much-loved local landmark, once renovated, is to have a new lease of life as their winery & a high-security one at that, given the spiteful vandalism they suffered in 2013 when they lost their entire white wine production.

They only grow traditional grape varieties, some of them extremely rare.Carignan, for example, fond of their poor, dry limestone and schist, has always provided the backbone to Fitou, for which the Languedoc has long been known. While Lledoner Pelut, otherwise rather unkindly known as Hairy Grenache, once plentiful and thriving here, came as a bit of a find when they took over an old vineyard in Tuchan.

Drink with �/h2>

A juicy t-bone steak and chips, highland venison, duck, cassoulet, wild boar stew, mature cheddar, steak and ale pie.