Project 108
winemaker
Paul Old
TYPE OF AGRICULTURE
Organic certified
VINEYARD AREA
1 ha
Country, Region, Subregion
We were introduced to Paul’s then-new Project 108 by Hugo Stewart in the summer of 2020. Hugo & Paul had earlier started the Corbières located Les Clos Perdus together in 2003, beginning with half a hectare of old-vine Carignan. 12 years later the biodynamic domaine had grown to 20 hectares and Hugo returned home to the UK, with Paul staying to continue the operation.
Having left Australia to work as a dancer in London, Paul had been looking for a new career as his “body began to fall apart.” Always enthusiastic about wine, he was reluctant to trade his beloved hobby for a profession, but a chance visit to a friend in Corbieres showed him the potential of the old vines being torn up across the region. Deciding there and then to use the dancer’s resettlement funds to retrain as a winemaker in Australia, he made his way back to Corbieres to begin his life-long love affair with old vine Carignan.
Paul’s first bottling of his new side-project, and our first taste, was a zero-sulphur blend of old vine Carignan & Mourvedre picked in 2018. By Paul’s definition, Les Clos Perdus- whilst being certified biodynamic and only ever using minimal amounts of SO2- was not natural. Determined to produce a true “zero-zero” wine, Project 108 was born.
Paul now makes two 108 wines each year: a different red - dependent on which of his parcels he's hoping to experiment with - and a macerated Muscat from a breathtaking patch of old vines high in the hills of Tautavel, named for the nearby Queribous castle.
2018 saw Paul bottle an old-vine Carignan/Mourvedre blend. In 2019 he focused his energies into a 100 year old Carignan, and 2020 was the first addition of Cabirou: a long, slow maceration Muscat/Macabeu.
We love this annual release, always a brilliant opportunity to see where Paul's decisions - or lack of - have led him.
For any UK wholesale and stock enquiries, please contact hello@winesutb.com
Wines
More on Project 108
Begins as a brooding, animal red with a black-olive core, before opening up to a bright, blackcurrant-packed number.