Domaine du Midi
Rosé, Picpoul de Pinet, and Minervois from three family estates in the Languedoc. Selected and imported by sommelier Brad Steven.
France and the Midi
The Midi is what some French call the south, and the word carries more than a location: the light, the pace, the long lunches. That is what the label points to, le soleil en héritage, sun passed down like anything worth keeping.I am of Mediterranean descent, and the sea has always read as home ground. France is where that turned into a life's study. I have gone back countless times, learned the language, worked through the cuisine and the culture region by region. Over the years I have built relationships with producers across the Midi, the kind that only come from time at the table. Those relationships are the brand. Each wine comes from a different family in a different corner of the south, and my job is to choose the wines and tell you why they matter.Right now that is three wines. A rosé from the Paillet family at Domaine Régismont, on old Roman ground near the coast. A Picpoul de Pinet from Marion and Guillaume at Domaine Reine Juliette, along the Étang de Thau. And a Minervois from La Famille Gastou, up in the hills above Cesseras. Different families, different terroirs, one idea: wines made for the table, under the same southern sun.
Blanc
Domaine du Midi Blanc is a collaboration between Domaine Reine Juliette and sommelier Brad Steven. Marion and Guillaume farm Piquepoul six generations deep along the Étang de Thau. The lagoon does the work here: sea mists and salt air off the water hold the grape's nerve through the Languedoc heat, and you taste it in the finish. A Picpoul with citrus, salt, and enough tension to stand up to everything the oyster beds ten kilometers away pull out of that same water.
Rosé
Domaine du Midi Rosé is a collaboration between Domaine Régismont and sommelier Brad Steven. The Paillet family has farmed these vineyards between Poilhes and Nissan-lez-Ensérune for four generations, on old ground the Romans worked before them. Syrah and Grenache picked for tension, not weight: raspberry and a snap of citrus, dry and cut clean, the kind of pink that belongs on a table in the sun rather than a shelf. Pour it cold and don't overthink it.
Rouge
Domaine du Midi Rouge is a collaboration between La Famille Gastou and sommelier Brad Steven. The Gastous farm at 130 meters in the hills above Cesseras, up toward the village of La Livinière. Altitude is the whole argument here: cool nights hold the line on a Grenache-Syrah that could easily go jammy in this heat, and instead it keeps its spine. Blackcurrant and violet, garrigue in the finish, silky tannins that carry the weight without any heaviness. A red for the table, and for anything that spent time over fire.
