The stunning expression of a sun-ripened grape with a velvety texture. The licorice and mineral notes give the wine a fresh character, in complete harmony with its legendary terroir.
The vintage

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.

Terroir

Rouméas, Muret, Beaumes, Méal, Pierelles.

Ageing

New barrels. Tronçais and Allier.

Tasting

The stunning expression of a sun-ripened grape with a velvety texture. The licorice and mineral notes give the wine a fresh character, in complete harmony with its legendary terroir.

Alcohol content

13,5%

Bottling

Without filtration.

Cépages

Serine
Syrah

This is on the burly side, with cocoa and ganache notes followed by a hint of roasted chestnut, while dark currant, fig and coffee notes fill in behind them. There’s a muscular feel on the finish....

James Molesworth
Wine Spectator , 95/100 , 2012-07-31

Opaque purple. Deeply pitched aromas of blackcurrant and cherry, with anise and black olive nuances adding complexity. Intensely flavored and chewy in texture, offering bitter cherry and dark fruit compote flavors and slow-building spiciness. Fine-grained tannins add grip to the long, focused, very persistent finish.

Stephen Tanzers International Wine Cellar , 91/100 , 2012-04-01