Appellation: Côtes du Rhône.
Cuvée: Blanc.
Colour: White.
Grapes: Bourboulenc 45%, Clairette 25%, Roussanne 20%, Grenache Blanc 10%.
About: a tiny production of 1200 bottles from old vines, a wine that spotlights the usually junior partner in Châteauneuf-du-Pape whites, Bourboulenc here playing the major role and displaying all the lovely vegetal fruit and acidity it usually brings to balance the richness of Grenache Blanc and Roussanne. The Clairette brings freshness and finesse. The blend has complexity and will work as both apero and food wine with salads and seafood or white meats.
Vines
Location: around the Domaine in the north of the Appellation adjacent to Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Size ha: 0.4 ha in 5 parcels.
Age: Clairette and Roussanne planted around 2000, Grenache Blanc planted 1986, the Bourboulenc around 1930 to 1935.
Soils: mainly galets roulés on a limestone-marl base and some sandy soils.
Exposition: mostly flat.
Altitude: 50 to 80m.
Training: gobelet and cordon de royat.
Farming: certified organic, with obsessive attention to adapting to changing circumstance, retaining humidity in a dry year, or aerating the vines in a humid year.
Average yield hl/ha: 40.
Climate: Mediterranean.
Winemaking
All varieties together are pressed directly and very carefully into tank to settle for 24 hours before slow fermentation in fibreglass tank, using wild yeasts, with no additions except very minimal sulphur, for 4 weeks, with temperatures controlled to between 18 and 20ºC. The wine was racked to prevent the malo happening, then aged a further 4 months before bottling with a very light filtration.
Vintage Notes 2019
A superb vintage was produced in yet again difficult conditions. A cool, long Spring was followed by drought and a heatwave with spikes of heat over 40ºC in late June and early July, so that it was uncertain what kind of wines would be produced. Yet they have everything: balance, clear fruit, freshness and aromatic intensity.
Yield hl/ha: 30.
Harvested: September 9.
Bottles produced: 1,200.
Date bottled: 2020-02.
Alcohol %: 13.69.
SO2 Total: 84.
Tasting: fresh, lively, and energetic, with a vegetal lemon acidity, mineral with notes of white flowers, medium-bodied. Subtle and fine.