# Calouk Red Blend (2023)

- **Producer:** Les Terres Dubien
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
- **Region:** Bordeaux, France
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 14.0%
- **Average price:** €28
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 15–17 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** cherry, plum, raspberry, blackcurrant, herbaceous, cedar, forest floor

## About this wine

Les Terres Dubien, founded in 2020 by winemaker Benoît Joussot-Dubien, represents a groundbreaking wave of biodynamic, low-intervention winemaking in Bordeaux's Médoc. Located in the commune of Couquèques in the northern Médoc peninsula, the micro-estate spans just 3 hectares. The Calouk cuvée is crafted from old vines of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon planted on 'calcaire à oursins'—a rare marine fossilized limestone rich in prehistoric sea urchins, setting this wine apart from the traditional gravel-dominated terroirs of the region.

## Interesting facts

- The vines grow on 'calcaire à oursins', a unique marine limestone soil filled with fossilized sea urchins found nowhere else in the Médoc.
- Harvesting is 100% manual, carried out with help from close friends and family across a tiny 3-hectare estate footprint.
- The wine is vinified without mechanical pumps using gravity flow and bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with extremely low added sulfites.

## Food pairing

The supple, fine-grained tannins and vibrant acidity of this low-intervention Médoc red allow it to pair effortlessly with rich meats such as roasted lamb or duck without over-tannic astringency. The wine's distinct mineral freshness and expressive dark berry notes harmonize wonderfully with earthy mushrooms, cured meats, and aged cheeses.

## Wine making process

Certified organic and biodynamic, the vineyard is managed with cover crops and natural estate-made plant infusions. The grapes are harvested 100% manually with yields around 15 hl/ha. In the cellar, natural fermentation takes place using only native yeasts. Low-intervention extraction is performed entirely by gravity without mechanical pumps to preserve aromatic purity and tannin quality. The wine ages between 8 to 18 months in vats, neutral old oak barrels, and amphorae before being bottled unfined and unfiltered with zero to minimal added sulfites.