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I will not begin to extol the quality of the quite exceptional 2009 vintage. Others have done this and some long before the wines were finished fermenting, which for me to do would be strange as I don’t see myself as a fortune teller reading tea leaves!
In fact, I wished to be a little more cautious. Perhaps it is my hidden pessimism, which was telling me to hold back. Or, maybe it is the obvious difficulty of finishing wines from a rather whimsical (very low quantities) and late (especially in the southern Côtes-du-Rhône) vintage. In any case, I was both right and wrong. In the north, the vintage is superb. There were no great difficulties, the rains arrived at the right time, and the harvest and vinification ultimately went well.
The wines are concentrated, yet without aggressive tannins. They show both fruit and mineral with unusual balance. 2009 is akin to 1999, which produced rather exceptional wines. All of this you will experience for yourself with your first glass of wine from this vintage!!!
I will not detail the climatic conditions of the 2009 vintage except to say the Mistral was missing and a very hot period at the end of August placed rather stressful water conditions on certain parcels. As is often the case, we had to wait for the first rains to restart everything. The harvests were slow and difficult—we had to work on a parcel-by-parcel basis and not hesitate to stop and wait for more favorable conditions.
In the end, after a particularly tough vinification we can report the best wines will be quite exceptional. Not in the tannic way we predicted at the start of fermentation, but in a pleasant, concentrated way with incredible finesse. The maturation of the wines will reveal the full potential of the vintage—we have not seen the last surprises from this rather refined, unusual, and still secretive vintage.
Finally, a quick word to say that more and more of our sources, particularly in the southern Côtes-du-Rhône, have converted, or are in the process of converting, to organic methods, which we are most happy about. We do not wish to stress this information from a commercial perspective, but we have included this new information in the fact sheets. It is important enough in our relationship to be highlighted and each year you will be able to track the progress.
Pierelles, Beaumes, Murets, Maison Blanche.
AgeingNew and one-year-old casks. Allier and Tronçais
Winemaking100% destemmed.
Tight, mineral notes. A wine of precision, exceptional class and of singular character.
13,5%
BottlingLight filtration.
CépagesMarsanne : 80 % Roussanne : 20 %
A very lush, opulent style, with mango, papaya, quince and pear flavors allied to a creamy, sweetened butter frame. The long finish has floral and bitter almond hints for contrast and balance as the fruit sails on.
James Molesworth
Wine Spectator
, 94/100
, 2012-04-04