Saturday, April 28th from 2-5pm – Join us for a Domaine Lafage Wine Tasting featuring a bunch of great wines from this highly regarded, Southern French estate. It’s Asheville’s best free wine tasting, and you’re invited. Just $5 to taste 9 highly rated wines – free for Grape Nuts. No RSVP required – just stop by – we’ve got plenty of free parking.
Jean-Marc and Eliane Lafage make some of the Roussillon’s top wines, red and white. This region deep in the southern part of France, not far from the Spanish border, enjoys a warm and sunny Mediterranean climate and is home to some very old vines. Team Lafage puts these two factors to good use, producing a wide array of easy-to-like, pleasure-bent wines. Join us for the rare opportunity to taste nearly all of the Lafage wines at one tasting, under one roof! Mike Kolker and Peg Laurita, of Freedom Beverage Co., join us to pour the wines and tell the stories. Taste, learn, and save every Saturday at Table Wine.
Jean-Marc and Eliane Lafage.
1. 2016 Domaine Lafage Cote Est – Cote Est is a stainless-steel fermented blend of organically grown Grenache Blanc, Chardonnay, and Roussanne. Floral and aromatic, it is an excellent example of the open and friendly whites you can find all along the Catalan coast from Perpignan to the Penedès. 90 points – Wine Advocate
2. 2016 Novellum Chardonnay – Many know and love this wine, as Novellum is one of the best Chardonnay values on the planet. From 30+ year old vines just a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean, this is a refined, aromatic and elegant Chardonnay that is aged in tank and neutral French barrels. 92 points Wine Advocate
3. 2016 Domaine Lafage Cuvée Centenaire – Lafage’s Cuvée Centenaire is easily one of the top, under-$20 white wines out there. From 100+ year old vines, this one is a blend of organically cultivated Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, and Roussanne. Possessing wonderful texture and detail, with refreshing acidity, it is a ton of wine for the money. 90 points Wine Advocate
4. 2017 Domaine Lafage Miraflors Rosé – Year after year, Domaine Lafage produces one of the best French dry rosés out there. 2017 is no exception! A blend of 80-year-old Grenache Gris, that Jean-Marc sources, along with 15-year-old Mourvedre that Lafage planted 15 years ago, it is reminiscent of really good Bandol Rosé at a fraction of the price.
5. 2015 Domaine Lafage Tessellae Carignan Vieilles Vignes – Jean-Marc Lafage possesses Carignan vines well over 70 years old grown on the rocky-schist soils of Aspres and Maury. All of his vines are now farmed organically. Every vintage of this wine since 2012 has scored 92 points or higher, and the current release is outstanding. Lush, perfumed, silky, and delicious, “it’s a screaming deal!” 92 points Wine Advocate
6. 2015 Domaine Lafage Tessellae GSM Vieilles Vignes – A joint venture between Eric Solomon and Jean-Marc Lafage, Tessellae old vines is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre (that’s the GSM). Grapes come from 70+ year old, organically farmed vines, and the wine is ripe, expansive, and full-bodied. 93 points Wine Advocate
7. 2015 Domaine Lafage Bastide Miraflors – A custom cuvée for European Cellars and a joint project between Eric Solomon and Jean-Marc Lafage, Bastide Miraflors is a cuvée created from Syrah (70%), grown on schist in the village of Maury, and Grenache (30%), grown on rocky, alluvial clay soils resembling those of the Rhône Valley. After a long maceration of six weeks the wine ages for 12 months in concrete and French oak. 94 points Wine Advocate
8. 2015 Domaine Lafage La Narassa – La Narassa is sourced from the famed black schist soils of the Agly valley in the northern Roussillon near the village of Maury. A careful selection of super ripe Grenache and Syrah from 60-year-old, organically tended vines, it is a hedonistic, opulent red that will please the most picky of palates. 93 points Wine Advocate
9. 2015 Chateau Saint-Roch Kerbuccio Maury Sec – From the warmest sites on black schist soils in Maury, Jean Marc Lafage sources the fruit for Kerbuccio, a wine named in honor of Quéribus, the ancient Cathar stronghold that overlooks the Agly valley. Composed of 80% Grenache and 20% Carignan, all from old, organically farmed sites, it is Southern France in a glass.
94 points Wine Advocate
Josh Spurling
Owner/Operator at Table Wine
828.505.8588
josh@tablewineasheville.com