95 POINTS - James Suckling
‘The deep nose of elderberries, wet earth and licorice pulls you into this full-bodied, concentrated but very elegant Chateauneuf. Very fine, focused tannins that counterpoint the juiciness on the mid-palate and drive the very long, bright and minerally finish. A grenache-based cuvee that is 60% from vineyards with galet cobblestones, 10% on sandy soils and the rest from limestone soil. Drink or hold.’

60 % Grenache Noir, 30 % Syrah, 8 % Mourvèdre & 2 % Cinsault, Counoise, Muscardin & Vaccarèse. Hand harvested and 100 % destemmed before fermentation over 15 to 20 days, with extraction via plunging the cap as required. Following the malolactic, a rigorous selection is performed and batches that do not meet the Estate’s quality criteria are sold in bulk. The selected batches are matured for 12 months in approximately 50 % barrels and 50 % stainless steel tanks. At this point another selection is made and any lesser batches are again sold in bulk. The final blend is then assembled in tank and matured for a further 6 months before bottling, then a further 4 to 6 months in bottle before it is available for shipping.