Weather conditions were not necessarily ideal for Mourvèdre to reach its optimal ripeness. Picked late, this Cuvée is, nonetheless, successful - and ambitious...!
The vintage

Understanding and succeeding this vintage required, indeed, presence in the Vineyard, careful work, experience, and even, clearly, a genuine expertise...
Winter temperatures amongst the mildest in the decade, rainfall amounts amongst the highest ever in winter, among the lowest ever in spring, and a nice output of grapes throughout the Rhone cépages : everything would raise hope of an early vintage, the ever expected Vintage, satisfactory both in terms of quantity and of quality ! But it was not counting on an unusually cool and rainy summer... Vignerons are soon confronted with quite a few difficulties, the trickiest one being the management of diseases…
The first three weeks of September revive the vintage... September, the month of wine !
2014 demanded, especially during the final weeks, hard, incessant work. The vines were in demand. It was crucial to understand, to be able to anticipate...This required a bit of wisdom, reason, intuition...
A vintage for Vignerons, indeed. And the best ones did perform with talent. They are now rewarded. As for the others, alas... There, is the whole difference

Terroir

Le Castellet.

Type of soil

Limestone-clay soils.

Ageing

24 months in one vintage old barrels. Allier and Tronçais.

Vinification

100% destemmed.

Serving

14°C
Decant 2 hours before you serve.

Alcohol content

14%

Bottling

Without fining and filtration.

Cépages

Mourvèdre : 95 %
Grenache : 5 %

Very deep crimson (much deeper than the Tardieu Laurent 2014s from the southern Rhône). Spicy, lively nose. Much more intensity than in the southern Rhône reds. Rich and rewarding on the nose. Real structure and vivacity here. Still youthful but there is fruit concentration on the mid palate. At the moment just a tad skinny with slightly drying tannins on the end but it should bulk out and there is no heat on the finish.

Jancis Robinson , 16,5/20 , 2015-10-30