If you have heard of the Cotes du Marmandais region, it is thanks to Elian da Ros. If you haven't, da Ros is the place to start. In the year 2000, da Ros established his eponymous winery in this region of Southwest France, just east of Bordeaux, which had languished in obscurity for decades. Due to overproduction, mixed quality and lack of name cache, the region was in steep decline as Elian began his operation. Choosing from many of the best sites in the area, many of them recently abandoned, he accumulated an exceptional stable of crus to work with. In the cellar, his experience with legendary Alsatian producer Zind-Humbrecht inspired him to maintain an experimental approach, preferring to take each vintage and lot as it comes, rather than prescribing the same techniques year in and year out. He uses oak barrels of varying sizes, clay amphorae, and concrete in elevage, tinkering with each lot to produce his desired results each year.

Cuvee notes from Chambers St. Wines:

"Chante-Coucou is the emblematic cuvée of the domain, and the one I would open to any Bordeaux lover in order to convince them of Elian's talent. More opulent and juicy due to its dominant Merlot, it still retains the unique personality of its terroir and its vigneron. Supplemented with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Syrah from clay-gravelly soils on gray and blue marly sedimentary conglomerates (called “molasse” in French) the different terroirs allow Elian to play with the different tannic expressions of these four grape varieties. He vinifies them separately: Syrah and Malbec are macerated whole-clustered in open foudres, the Merlot and the Cabernet Sauvignon are de-stemmed. Macerations last two to three weeks. Aged 20 months in used barrels, the wines are blended together en masse 6 months before bottling."