AOC Languedoc-Roussillon, AOC Côtes du Rhône,
AOC Provence, Vins de Pays, Customized wines

CHATEAU DE LA NEGLY

Château de la Negly is located in the Coteaux du Languedoc AOC, in the south of France, between the cities of Narbonne and Béziers. La Clape is a rocky, scrub-strewn hill that rises almost straight up from the Mediterranean. Wine has been produced here since Roman times. The "La Clape" Massif was an island until the river "Aude" silted up in the Middle Ages.

In the 18th century, the castle (château) was called Ancely; in 1781 the property took the name of Nerly and was finally called Negly in 1807. The Rosset family has owned Château de la Negly for decades, using it as a holiday retreat. The vines behind it were regarded by Rosset's father as a minor source of income, rather than the starting point for world-class wines as Jean-Paul saw it. "The soil and site are outstanding, "he explained" Someone just had to put in the effort.

The key names at Château de la Negly, in the La Clape subregion of the Coteaux du Languedoc, are jean Paux-Rosset and Claude Gros as consultant and associate (business partner). Together they make a very effective duet, producing one of the most stunning range of vines available from anywhere in the Languedoc.

Some time after the death of his father in 1992, Rosset's mother handed over control to jean and the focus changed from quantity to quality. Yields were reduced, strict quality controls - such as a sorting table - were implemented, all grapes are now hand-picked and new fermenting equipment and barriques were purchased. Farming methods were rethought and he started to replant step by step the 50 hectare estate.

Jean Paux-Rosset took out loans and invested almost his entire personal fortune to complete the renovation of the cellars and the vineyards. He bas concentrated all his investments in winemaking, leaving the château building itself in a run-down state. He still lives nearby Narbonne, using the house as a holiday home and spending only about three quarters of his working time there. But he has big ambitions. He wants to build a visitors' center that would allow guests to walk across the cellar and taste the château's wines on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean.

Negly began to produce three high-proftle reds in 1996, each one more concentrated than the one before : Cuvée de la Côte, made mostly from 50-year-old Carignan vines, Grenache and Mourvèdre on the coastal plain; La Falaise, a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre harvested from hillside vines and aged in oak; and Porte du Ciel, a prestige cuvée of only 250 cases. Later he added a white Aoc La Brise Marine - a blend of Bourboulenc, Marsanne and Roussanne- and another top cuvée called Ancely, which is made from at least 70 to 80 % Mourvèdre.

The nearby estate Domaine Boède was taken on some years ago as a farm lease and now belongs entirely to Negly. There he produces two red wines: Le Grès, another high-profile AOC wine, and a "Vin de Pays" called Pavillon.

Jean-Paux-Rosset also owns 5 hectares of vines in the hills above Saint Pargoire close to PEZENAS, where he produces another luxury red cuvée, called Clos des Truffiers. This wine is made from one of the oldest Syrah vineyards in the Languedoc region.

Today the wines from Chateau de la Negly and its associated vineyards are a reference for wines from the South of France. A lot has been written by French and foreign journalists about this estate and the "duet" Jean Paux-Rosset and Claude Gros.

David Schildknecht from Robert Parker COM wrote very recentlyy: Through ruthless control of vields, meticulous selectivity, and a relentlessly envelope-pushing approach to ripening their fruit and extracting its flavors, Jean Paux-Rosset and his œnologist Claude Gros have set new standards over the past decade for the entire Languedoc, not just their La Clape neighborhood.

He and Robert Parker himself have always rated the wines from Negly very highly with up to 98 points for certain vintages.