Chateau d'Oupia Pays d'Herault Les Heretiques 2024 750ml

Chateau d'Oupia Pays d'Herault Les Heretiques 2024 · Languedoc, France

This Carignan and Grenache blend from Languedoc takes its name from the Cathars, a local heretical group who resisted rigid Christian dogma in the 13th century. The wine is similarly rebellious: an unconventional blend bursting with dark berry fruit, violets, and garrigue, backed by freshness and minerality. Sustainable.

Vinification

The Carignan vines average 40 years in age, with some of them being over 100 years old. The fruit is sustainably farmed and harvested partly by hand and partly by machine. The Carignan remains in whole clusters and goes through a carbonic maceration in tank, while the Grenache is destemmed and goes through a 3-4-week maceration in concrete vats. Fermentation is with selected yeasts. The two varieties are blended and aged in tank, and the wine is bottled with a light, non-sterile filtration.

Producer

Everyone talks about the new quality of wines from the Languedoc. For us, this doesn't mean the ubiquitous varietal bottlings from irrigated flat vineyards but the wonderful wines coming from the best hillside vineyard sites in AOCs like Minervois, Corbières and Coteaux-du-Languedoc. The Château d'Oupia is one of the best.

André Iché inherited an impressive 13th century castle and a large estate in the barren Minervois region. Iché was never a member of his village coop, tended his very old vines and made his wines but sold everything in bulk to local négociants. One day, a Burgundian winemaker happened to be in Oupia, tasted Iché's wines, and was so enthused that he convinced Iché to bottle and market his production.

André passed away in late 2007. His daughter, Marie-Pierre, currently runs the estate with the help of Fabrice Lopez and many old timers who know the land like the back of their hands.

Critical Acclaim

Robert Parker — Château d'Oupia has consistently been praised and rated a "best buy": "Château d'Oupia has produced the ideal bistro wine. Dark, ruby-colored, the wine is wonderfully clean and pure, with an exuberant personality, and gobs of rich, peppery, red and black fruit...Bravo to proprietor André Iché!"

Details

• Producer: Chateau d'Oupia
• Country: France
• Region: Languedoc-Roussillon
• Sub-region: Pays d'Hérault
• Grapes: Carignan and Grenache
• Vintage: 2024
• Certification: Sustainable
• Size: 750ml
• Women Led 

Importer profile courtesy of Louis/Dressner.