The vineyard: The vineyard covers 11 hectares, and is leased by us and managed by the Beaucastel team. It lies within the commune of Sarrians, South of the Dentelles de Montmirail, between Carpentras and Vaison-la-Romaine. The vines are old (average age 50 years).
Geology: Stony terraces, over clay and sand with traces of cobalt oxide.
Grape varieties: 75% Grenache, 25% Syrah.
Winemaking: The grapes are harvested in 25 kg boxes. After crushing, they are slowly fermented for a month in 50 hectolitre vats. Blending takes place after malo-lactic fermentation. Maturing Half in tanks and half in casks.
Tasting notes:
Dark, with a nice juicy beam of blackberry and crushed red currant fruit backed by graphite and dark licorice notes on the finish. This fleshes out nicely in the glass. Rock-solid.
(Wine Spectator 90 points)
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happinez wines of the month posters...
We are offering posters for sale with all our wines of the month. The poster size is 20x30inch and will be sold unframed/unmounted. Photography by Mark Hemmings. Price $75 + HST, ordering through happinez A mounted example of these posters can be seen at happinez. Here are the 2009, 2008 and 2007 posters...