Juicy first, spicy second
Juicy and moreish from the first sip: red fruit mixed with small black berries, then the spices come through. Supple, fresh and crunchy, an easy red with plenty of character.
- red berries
- blackberry
- blackcurrant
- spice
- Body
- medium
- Acidity
- fresh
- Grip
- soft
- Fruit
- juicy
Grenache noir and Syrah
Grenache gives red fruit, warmth and softness. Syrah adds colour, dark fruit and pepper. Together they are the classic red pair of the French south.
The name is for the terraces cut into the Força Real hill, where much of the work is still done by hand. The label carries the name of Régis Boucabeille, Jean's father, who brought the family to these slopes in 1990.
About ten days on the skins, no oak
- Picked by handOrganic vines on the schist terraces
- About ten days on the skinsShort enough to keep it juicy
- Kept in tankNo oak, just fruit and spice
- Bottled youngThe spring after harvest
Jean Boucabeille
In 1990 Régis and Marie-Odile Boucabeille took over Mas Camo, 12 hectares of terraced vines on the Força Real, a schist hill west of Perpignan. Vines had been abandoned on these slopes for most of the 20th century because they were too hard to work, and the vineyard had been replanted in 1976 as an experiment. Their elder son Jean declared his first harvest in 2001, built the estate's own cellar in 2008 and converted everything to organic farming the same year.
Today the domaine has about 40 hectares of vines on slate and schist between 150 and 400 metres, with cork oak and olive forest around them. Jean has planted 650 cork oaks so the estate can one day make its own corks, and is replanting Grenache to cope with drought. Most of the range is classic Roussillon. Le Bon Sauvage is the natural one, with nothing added at all.
How to serve and pair it
Some pairing ideas
- Merguez and couscousSpicy North African food, on the estate's list
- Fish a la planchaThe estate's own suggestion
- Beef daubeA dish in sauce, as the estate suggests
- Roast partridgeGame, also on the estate's list
If you like this one, try...
Same hill, Grenache with Carignan, and nothing added at all. Deeper and darker.
A Portuguese red in the same spirit: juicy, a little firm, good next to anything off the grill.
Hungary's old red grape, lighter in body but with the same peppery spice.
More from Boucabeille
Producer: Domaine Boucabeille, RD 614, Las Coumes Altes, 66550 Corneilla-la-Rivière, France