DOMAINE LES CARMELS

Bordeaux, France

One can’t say that Bordeaux and its neighboring appellations have been at the forefront of the organic and biodynamic movements. Furthermore, for more than two decades, the region was hanging on to a recipe that may have been successful (ripe, heavily new-oaked, technological wines) but that many wine aficionados no longer find to their taste. Consequently, Bordeaux and friends are scarce on the wine lists of most of the hot new bistros, where you will find two dozen Gamays and Poulsards before you spot a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, if you spot any at all. For a region that once dominated French wine sales, it is a spectacular fall from grace.

But things are definitely changing, with domaines like Les Carmels: certified organic, practicing biodynamic, affordable, and made in a softly-extracted, no new oak, very low sulfur, and beautifully quaffable style. The domaine is located in Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux.

Yorick Lavaud was born on August 23, 1977 and grew up in Créon, a 10-minute drive from the domaine. There were no vineyards in his family, at least not his immediate family: his great-great grandfather owned ten chateaux in the Graves, including Fieuzal, Malartic Lagraviere, and Domaine de Chevalier. “But we’re from the impoverished branch of the family,” says Yorick. He studied agronomy in Paris, then oenology in Bordeaux, and capped it off with studies in the commerce of wine.

Sophie Lavaud was born on August 24, 1984 and grew up in Bordeaux. Her parents were both teachers, but the family was from the Dordogne, a region where food and wine are important —one of her uncles was a broker in Perigord black truffles. While studying in Montreal, Quebec, she was often told “Oh, you’re from Bordeaux. So you must know a lot about wine.” This made her realize that, in fact, she knew very little about it. Upon her return to France, she studied the commerce of wine, at the same university as Yorick. This is where the couple met in 2007.

After his studies, Yorick worked for Rothschild and was responsible for sourcing wine for them. He frequently scoured the Entre-Deux-Mers and knew the terroirs well. In 2009, he found a 17-hectare property for sale. It was only one-third planted to vines, which made it undesirable to the local large vineyard owners. And there were no buildings on it. “Basically, it went for the price of a modest house in the suburbs of Bordeaux,” Yorick says. So the young couple was able to finance the purchase and construction of their house and winery through a bank loan, complemented by European grants for young entrepreneurs.

What they built does not look bordelais at all. Standing in the vineyards a hundred yards away from the buildings, you feel you could be, say, in Oregon. This is because the domaine is somewhat isolated, the buildings are modest, near the forest, and are made for the most part out of wood. Wood wasn’t actually a premeditated choice, though, it was just economical. But it gives the domaine a pioneering, frontier feel, which is very fitting: unoaked, low-sulfur wines are still a rarity in Bordeaux.

The couple managed the vineyards organically from the beginning and follow biodynamic precepts. They were Ecocert-certified in 2010 but did not at first put the certification on the label because organic wasn’t well-received in Bordeaux. “I remember an early tasting with a wine merchant in Bordeaux,” says Sophie. “He loved the wine at first. But once I mentioned it was organic, he disparagingly said, ‘So that’s that taste.’” It was only in 2015, after numerous requests from their customers in Paris, that they finally put the certification on their label.

Organic is more than a choice of viticulture for the couple, it’s a way of life. They source organic food, of course. All the wood in the house and winery is chemical-free, and where there is paint, it is made with natural pigments. The low-sulfur winemaking is health-related as Yorick has minor issues with asthma (though the initial impetus for it was a book: Les Grands Vins Sans Sulfites, by Arnaud Immélé.)

There is also an organic, wholesome view for the rest of the property. There are currently 6 hectares of vines, 5 hectares of pastures, and 6 hectares of woods. The woods are protected: you can’t exploit them commercially, or basically do anything that would harm them. Many land-owners would be annoyed, but Sophie mentions this with a warm, maternal smile.

In one of the pastures, the couple has planted 50 varieties of fruit trees as a test. Once they know which ones work well on their site, they plan to plant an orchard. They also want to plant table grapes, resistant varieties that will not require treatment. The vision is not fully-formed, but they imagine a pick-your-own-fruit farm. We are eating in the couples’ house in their open kitchen and dining area when they tell us this; they have cooked the meal while we are talking. We mention to them the honor-system fruit stands in the US, and then crack up: it would never work in France. For we are in France, but it doesn’t feel like we are in Bordeaux.

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