Elian DA ROS

Historically, the region around Marmande has been more famous for tomatoes than for wine, but Elian Da Ros might change all that. After working for five years with Domaine Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace, Elian returned to his hometown of Cocumont in 1998 and constructed a simple winery, taking the daring step to become the first winemaker to produce and bottle his wine under the Côtes du Marmandais AOP. At the time, the wines of the region were so poorly seen that the government was paying farmers to rip out their vines to limit production. This turned out to be quite a boon to Elian since he was able to pick and choose the best terroir on the hills. After watching his father and his uncle both succumb to cancer from chemical exposure in the vines, it was evident from the start that all farming would be organic. Elian works side by side with his wife Sandrine Farrugia (who also makes a tiny amount of wine under her own label) to farm 20ha of vines, all of which are now certified biodynamic. Several decades later, Elian Da Ros is now considered the standard-bearer of what remains a small appellation. The Côtes du Marmandais sits at the crossroads of the Southwest and Bordeaux, and the permitted grape varieties are a panoply to match. There’s the local grape Abouriou (very tannic and thick-skinned), plus reds and whites from Bordeaux varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, and Sémillon), and quite a bit of Syrah that managed to sneak in as well. Elian's vinifications are all with native yeasts and begin in concrete tanks, but the techniques vary from cuvée to cuvée and year to year to achieve the desired profile for each wine. The wines are then transferred by gravity into the cellar below, where they age from 12-36 months in all sorts of vessels: used barrels, demi-muids, foudres, concrete eggs, clay jars, and more. All wines are then assembled and left to rest 'en masse' for at least six months before bottling so that when a bottle finally comes out of the cave, it is ready to drink. Or at least starting to be ready to drink, since many of the Da Ros wines can improve with a decade or more of bottle age. From the soif "Le vin est une fête" (meaning "wine is a party") to the single-vineyard Clos Baquey, these are some of the purest expressions of the limestone and gravel soils of the region, and display tremendous elegance and finesse, even when working with grape varieties more renowned for their power.