2006 Paul Louis Eugène, "Canto Pèbré" Vin de France

In the high hills above Siran, where ancient vineyards had returned to wilderness, Paul Durand made his stand. He wasn't interested in the comfortable vineyards of Minervois La Livenière below. He wanted the forgotten places, the odd pockets of land tucked into mountain crevices where Romans once grew vines. Paul Louis Eugène—named for his father Louis and grandfather Eugène—was one of France's first rebels to reject the entire appellation system. While others relied on AOC status, Durand bottled everything as Vin de Table, believing the wine itself should be its only argument. His five hectares produced maybe 17 different grape varieties, from traditional Carignan to utterly non-Languedoc Pinot Noir, each an experiment in what these abandoned soils could express. His damp cellar contained no new oak—just old barrels where wines sometimes aged for three years without racking, without fining, without filtration. He believed the lees would reintegrate themselves, that time would clarify