Domaine Léon Barral : Valinière 2006

Characteristics and tasting advice for Valinière 2006 from Domaine Léon Barral

Tasting

Color

The wine shows a deep, concentrated ruby-red hue typical of Mourvèdre-dominant blends, with violet or garnet highlights at the rim that signal the wine’s evolution.

Nose

The nose is intense and complex, revealing characteristic aromas of meat and game, along with animal notes typical of Mourvèdre grown in a Mediterranean climate. These savory scents are joined by dried herbs, leather, toasty nuances and the garrigue of Provence. With aeration, the bouquet develops toward toasted almond and black-fruit notes.

Palate

On the palate, the wine offers a full, powerful structure carried by fleshy, assertive tannins. Black-fruit flavors - black cherry, plum and blackberry - mingle with the spicy notes brought by Syrah. The texture shows substantial tannins and bright acidity that balances the wine’s richness. The finish lingers at length, extending the tannic and aromatic impressions with remarkable complexity.

Food and wine pairing

This wine pairs perfectly with lamb, whose richness is enhanced by the wine’s spicy, herbal aromas. It also pairs beautifully with braised meats such as rib of beef or pork shoulder, as well as game preparations - venison, wild boar or duck. Charcuterie and cured meats also make excellent matches, with the wine providing the freshness needed to counterbalance fat and salt.

Serving and cellaring

It is recommended to open Valinière 2006 several hours before serving or to decant it to allow it to aerate and fully reveal its complexity. The ideal serving temperature is between 16 and 19°C. With nearly twenty years of age, this wine continues to evolve favorably under proper cellar conditions.

A powerful, authentic biodynamic Faugères from the Languedoc

The estate

Founded in the 1990s by Didier Barral, Domaine Léon Barral - named in homage to his grandfather - represents the thirteenth generation of the Barral family to grow vines in the hamlet of Lenthéric. As early as 1995, Didier converted the estate’s 30 hectares of vines to biodynamics, becoming a pioneer of this approach in France. Refusing mobile phone, email and computer, this visionary winemaker devotes himself entirely to his vineyard in the Languedoc. His philosophy places work in the vineyard at the heart of wine quality, considering that “wine begins to be made when the blade of the pruning shears touches the wood.” Internationally recognized, notably thanks to importer Kermit Lynch, Didier Barral received the Légion d'Honneur for his major influence on French viticulture.

The vineyard

The Domaine Léon Barral vineyard stretches across the steep hillsides of the Faugères appellation, around thirty kilometers north of Béziers, in the foothills of the Massif Central. The Valinière cuvée parcels cover about 4.3 hectares planted on schist soils, a metamorphic rock that can retain water while storing heat during the day and releasing it at night. The vines, between fifteen and thirty years old, are gobelet-trained on south-facing terraces. The ecosystem includes cattle, horses and pigs that graze between the rows, naturally enriching the soils and encouraging biodiversity. No synthetic chemical products are used; only biodynamic preparations in homeopathic doses are applied according to the lunar calendar.

The vintage

The 2006 vintage unfolded in typical Mediterranean conditions, with a hot, dry summer characteristic of the region. After thirteen years of biodynamic practices at the estate, the soils benefited from optimal biological activity and a fully developed ecosystem, essential conditions for producing wines of great complexity.

Winemaking and aging

Valinière 2006 was vinified in concrete vats by gravity, with indigenous yeasts and with no added commercial yeasts. Maceration lasted three to four weeks, allowing optimal extraction of tannins and aromatic compounds. The wine was then aged in barrels for two to three years. No filtration or fining was carried out, preserving the wine’s full substance and allowing it to continue its natural evolution in bottle.

Grape varieties

Mourvèdre (80%)
Syrah (20%)