Nicolas Carmarans
SOUTH-WEST
Leaving his famous Parisian wine bistro in the early 2000s to return to his home turf, in the Aveyron, Nicolas Carmarans had only one ambition: to make natural wines, in the spirit of those he loved and poured at his bistrot. Mission accomplished: using traditional grape varieties, he produces cuvées with beautifully pure and frank character, both crunchy and well-structured.
After years running a Parisian bistro, in the early 2000s Nicolas Carmarans chose to return to the region in which he grew up, the Aveyron, reviving virtually unclaimed terroirs to practice the kind of viticulture he had always defended in his bistro. His 4 hectares of vines are located in the winegrowing area of Entraygues-et-Le Fel, a small, almost forgotten appellation in the heart of Haut-Rouergue on the foothills of Aubrac, at the northern tip of Aveyron, on the valley slopes of the Truyère, and of its tributary, the Selves. These are slopes of granitic sand which can only be worked with a crawler and winch, and where the highly typical varietal, Fer Servadou, thrives (known as Mansois in Marcillac – a different terroir where the grapes in the Fer de Sang cuvée are grown – or as Braucol in Gaillac) alongside Chenin, for whites. Without inputs of any kind (apart from rare, small doses of sulphur), the wines are remarkably straight, with a complex aromatic profile and great texture that combines the fleshiness of the grapes and the mineral imprint of their terroir.
