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La Cave des Nomades

La Petite Magicienne 2018

Price: $39.95
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Tasting notes

The split vinification — direct-press Muscat in amphora alongside skin-macerated Chardonnay also in amphora — produces a wine with both aromatic precision and textural interest that you rarely find at 11.5% ABV. The schist terroir of Banyuls comes through as stony minerality on the finish, cutting through the Muscat's floral richness with something more austere and saline.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
White PeachGrapefruitOrange BlossomWet Stone
  • Style: Dry, light-bodied white; 50% Muscat à Petit Grain, 50% Chardonnay; floral, mineral, high acid; 11.5% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 50% Muscat à Petit Grain, 50% Chardonnay; biodynamic; schist soils, Banyuls-sur-Mer, Côte Vermeille
  • Winemaking: Direct-press Muscat + skin-macerated Chardonnay; both fermented in stainless steel; aged in amphora; no added sulfites
  • Serving: Serve at 46-50F; no decanting needed
  • Pairing: Oysters, grilled whole fish, fresh chèvre, light vegetable tart
  • Similar To: For fans of dry Alsace Muscat or mineral-driven Chablis who want natural wine texture

La Petite Magicienne is a dry white Vin de France from José Carvalho Moreira, who works roughly 3 hectares of schist-soiled terraces in Banyuls-sur-Mer on the Côte Vermeille, just north of the Spanish border. The blend is equal parts Muscat à Petit Grain and Chardonnay, vinified separately and united after aging. Production is a micro-run of between 300 and 1,200 bottles.

The two halves of this blend are handled differently in the cellar. The Muscat is direct-pressed and fermented in stainless steel before aging in amphora, preserving its aromatic intensity without oxidation. The Chardonnay receives a skin maceration before stainless steel fermentation and the same amphora aging, adding texture and a faint amber tint. No sulfites are added at any stage.

The result is a wine with bright, high acidity and a lean, mineral-driven frame rooted in the schist soils of Banyuls. The Muscat contributes its signature floral-citrus aromatic lift while the macerated Chardonnay brings grip and weight. CellarTracker reviewers note tart green apple, grapefruit, stony minerality, and a touch of hay on the finish.

The label, like all Cave des Nomades bottles, is printed on cork by the sole remaining producer of cork labels in Europe. Each cuvée corresponds to a character or story in Zé's ongoing fictional universe, with artwork by Polish artist Katja Stroph.

The wine's high acidity and floral aromatics make it a natural fit for raw shellfish — oysters, clams, or lightly dressed crab. The macerated Chardonnay component adds enough texture to hold up to a simple grilled whole fish with herbs. Try it also with fresh chèvre or a light vegetable tart.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, White Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Muscat a Petit Grain, Chardonnay
Farming:, Biodynamic
Vintage:, 2018
Alcohol:, 11.5%
Country:, France
Region:, Roussillon
Appellation:, Vin de France
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


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Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

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**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

La Cave des Nomades

José Carvalho Moreira, known as Zé Tafé, was born near Porto, Portugal. After earning a degree in cinema and art, he spent three years working on organic and biodynamic farms across Europe before arriving in Roussillon in 2010 to harvest fruit. A chance meeting with Manuel Di Vecchi Staraz of Vinyer de la Ruca in Banyuls introduced him to natural wine. He returned each harvest while working for Ikea in a travel-based role before deciding, after a night of revelry with Manuel, to make wine himself. Manuel found him his first vineyard plot.

Zé established La Cave des Nomades in 2013 on a roughly 3-hectare estate in Banyuls-sur-Mer. By his final vintage in 2020 he had expanded to 12 parcels planted with low-yielding old vines of Grenache Noir, Gris, and Blanc, Carignan Noir and Gris, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Merlot, Macabeo, Muscat Petit Grain, and Chardonnay. The estate sits on schist soils. No treatments are applied in the vineyard — not even copper — and all work is done by hand. No sulfites are added in the cellar. Zé learned winemaking hands-on with Manuel Di Vecchi Staraz and Alain Castex, and later through relationships with other Roussillon producers including Jean-François Nicq and Stéphane Morin. He was a founding member of Les 9 Caves, a shared cellar and cave à manger in Banyuls.

Each parcel is vinified separately, sometimes sorted by grape color, with vessel choice varying intuitively by vintage. Zé uses stainless steel, old barrels, and amphorae of various sizes and shapes. Blends are assembled after evaluating each component. All cuvées are micro-productions of 300 to 1,200 bottles. For La Petite Magicienne, the Muscat is direct-pressed and fermented in stainless before amphora aging; the Chardonnay is macerated on skins, then fermented in stainless and also aged in amphora. Each bottling carries a cork label printed with artwork by Katja Stroph, corresponding to a character or narrative in Cave des Nomades' ongoing fictional universe.

Wine region

Roussillon, France

Roussillon occupies the Pyrénées-Orientales department of far southern France, bordered by the Pyrenees to the west and south and the Mediterranean to the east. The Côte Vermeille, where Banyuls-sur-Mer is situated, is the southernmost stretch of the French coast before Spain. Vineyards here grow on steep, terraced slopes at elevations ranging from sea level up to several hundred meters, largely on ancient schist soils derived from Pyrenean foothills. The Tramontane, a dry northwest wind, sweeps through approximately one day in three, reducing disease pressure and concentrating grapes. The climate is Mediterranean: hot and dry in summer, with heavy rainfall concentrated in autumn and spring.

The schist soils of the Banyuls zone drain quickly and are low in organic matter, forcing vines to root deeply and yielding small, concentrated harvests. Banyuls AOC is best known for its fortified vins doux naturels made primarily from Grenache Noir, recognized as one of France's first AOCs in 1936. The neighboring Collioure AOC covers the same four communes — Banyuls-sur-Mer, Cerbère, Collioure, and Port-Vendres — and produces dry red, white, and rosé table wines from the same schist terroir. Producers working outside appellation rules, as Zé does with this Muscat-Chardonnay blend, bottle under the broader Vin de France designation. Roussillon is also one of France's most active regions for natural and organic viticulture, with a dense network of small independent producers working the coastal slopes.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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