2006 Leon Barral Faugeres “Jadis”
Every so often i find a wine that when drank reminds me of when i fell in love with wine. A wine that scrubs out the preconceptions that have started to build in the corners of your mind like bathtub mildew. Overthinking wines can be both interesting but it quickly turns boring. When i find myself ponderously mulling the same ounce of Burgundy for half an hour i need somthing that makes me want to drink again. I figured since i’ve been slacking on the blogging as of late i needed something to slap me out of my apathy and make me want to write again.
So last night at work we opened a bottle of 2006 Leon Barral “Jadis” from the Faugeres appelation in the Languedoc. The wine, produced by vigneron Didier Barral (Leon Barral was his grandfather) is comprised of syrah, grenache, mouvedre and carignan, is a case study in complexity. Full of stewed fruit, gravelly tannins, that south-of-france black tar thing that can overwhelm a wine easily but make it beautifully deep in moderation. This is not to say that the wine is too cerebral or geeky. It’s a wine that wants to be consumed in quantity. thinking and talking about are one thing, drinking it is quite another. One colleague quickly described it as “fucking awesome” because other words would just muddle things, and my initial reaction was “fuck” with raised eyebrows (i wish more wine professionals would talk this way).
so my final analysis is:
“fuck”
go out and find some.
saignée 
Opened a bottle of 2002 Baudry “Franc de Pied” this evening and likewise had one of those “fuck” experiences. Thank god there still to be had.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this wine. I’m going to get my hands on a bottle and taste it!
-cheers
I agree. This wine is phenomenal. Fucking awesome captures it well.
Some wine professionals do have potty mouths…
fucking great
Has anyone out there tried the Valiniere?
My first experience with this wine was also fairly recently. My girlfriend and I had just flown into Paris on a redeye, and we were staying the night with a wine-loving friend who marched us around town to a few of her favorite shops. We picked up, among a few other things, the ’05 Jadis, lugged it to the lawn in front of the Sacre Coeur, and finished it with ease despite our burgeoning jet-lag and three hours of interrupted, legroom-less sleep. The glassware was less than stellar–a half-liter plastic Badoit bottle that I sawed in half with the foil cutter on my corkscrew, in fact–but the wine was definitely “fuck”…
This wine is a gem. The Domaine is so fervent about biodynamism that 1/3 of the vineyard land is devoted to sheep raising so the animal’s manure can nourish the vines. The wine is dark and nearly opaque in the glass with notes of garrigue and game. On the palate, the wine has a ripe, powerful, southerly feel.
just had the Jardis 2002, which still holds fine. its a blast of a wine.
I have tried the Valiniere, i have tried 03 and 07… If you like Jadis you will FUCKING love Vali.. it is one of the greatest wines from Lange – Rous, in my op.
All the money worth
TBA
It’s a lovely wine. You should also try Faugeres, Les Bastides from Dom. Alquier. It’s hedonistic and perfumed where the Barral is concentrated and serious. I love Faugeres. My wife and I are planning a trip there next spring.
Henry