2022
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Béziers, Pays d'Oc
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| Dry red - medium/full-bodied |
90% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre - aged in steel vats
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13.5%
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Roasted red meats, game, cheeses.
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Improves for 2 or 3 days
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Now to 2030 and beyond
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Grenache grown on Villafranchien soil (a mix of red clay and smooth pebbles), plus a little Mourvedre, grown on a 40-metre-deep bed of sea sediment and alluvial deposits in Corneilhan, just north of Béziers. Yields are very low, with just 20 hl/ha for the Grenache and a miniscule 10 hl/ha for the Mourvedre. In some ways, this is the most elegant of Brigitte Chevalier's wines - what it lacks in Faugères typicity/terroir, it certainly makes up for it in it's delightfully soft, sweet-sour, slightly saline fruit aromas and flavours. Initially, it seems lighter in style than previous vintages, with a bright, medium-red robe leading to a narrow watery rim, with red berry and cherry fruit aromas, hints of summer flowers and garrigue herbs. The palate is medium bodied, with light, fresh strawberry and cherry fruit flavours, gentle tannins and cherry skin acidity, leading to a cool, minty finish. Even at the time of our most recent tasting (October 2024) this is a youthful wine, which needs more time to put on some weight. Indeed, it takes a day or two of air for the aromas and flavours to really start to fill out and become more complex - still quite ethereal and relatively light, but with the fruit turning a little darker and more mouth-filling, and showing more grip on the mid-palate. The floral nuances are still there, and we also have hints of forest floor and white pepper. With another year or so in bottle, this will really begin to sing. |
