Vintages follow one after the other, pleasure remains intact. A Cuvée which always brings its lot of emotions… and is now subject to the greed of the Amateurs of Great White Wines !
The vintage

Strange and paradoxical… This vintage has reserved us quite a few surprises, and
still raises questions. Although described as « Great » by some Vignerons, its strong
heterogeneity, depending on the sectors, imposes us to be attentive, measured, though hopeful.
2018 : the vegetative cycle is early. Spring sees generous rains and heat strokes
alternate. According to “Elders”, from memory one has to get back to the 60’ to observe such pressure of diseases in the vineyard. And, unfortunately for some Domaines, the processing windows would, in the main, only open at the week-ends… The vintage therefore promises to be technically complicated, demanding meticulous, tedious, even relentless work, in the vineyards. Damage and losses vary… but yields on Grenache are historically low… Providentially, once again, we could count on Mother Nature’s final “nudge” ! Without hesitation we can assert that the quality of the remaining grapes, the quality of their juice, is mainly due to a brilliant month of September.
Indeed, the weather conditions during the harvest were almost perfect. Cool but sunny weather, with well-marked, valued, thermal amplitudes… The Vigneron was able to choose in all serenity the ideal moment to harvest, plot of land by plot of land, without having to operate any constrained arbitration…

Terroir

La Côte, la Beylesse.

Type of soil

Clay-limestone soils.

Ageing

Ageing 12 months in new and one year old barrels. Allier and Tronçais.

Serving

12°C
Decant one hour before tasting.

Alcohol content

13%

Bottling

Without fining and light filtration.

Cépages

Marsanne : 50 %
Roussanne : 50 %

Guide Bettane et Desseauve des vins de France , 17,5/20 , 2019-08-31

Pale straw colour. Heady and rather glorious array of wild alpine flowers. Lovely stuifwith great tension and a delightful excursion from the well-worn trails. Hint of fresh ginger too. Exciting!

Jancis Robinson , 17/20 , 2019-11-11