Brigitte Bile and Serge Depeyre met in 1995 and later settled in Roussillon. Their domaine was created in 2002 and is comprised of 30 acres in two main blocks overlooking Cases de Pène and Espira, and Vingrau in Southern France. The area is said to have an almost ideal grape-growing climate and soils– volcanic and calcareous, primarily made up of marls and black schist.
The vineyard is made up of 5 grape varieties; Black Grenache, Carignan, Lladoner pelut, Syrah, Mourvédre. Some of the Mourvédre vines are 90 years old and the Carignan dates back 200 years.
They use no chemical fertilizers, only organic matter. All harvesting is done manually. Grapes are completely destemmed. Fermentation lasts over 3 to 4 weeks on an average, longer than at most wineries, lending complexity to the wine. He follows traditional wine making principles, using only indigenous yeasts. Part of the wine is then aged in oak barrels for 9 to 18 months and the other part in tanks. The mix depends entirely on the judgment of which varieties and which lots of grapes will benefit from each individual treatment. They use no fining or filtration.
This wine is a blend of 50% Syrah, and 25% each of Grenache and Carignan. Raspberry and violet aromatics. On the palate, dark fruit and meatiness from the Syrah, with brighter fruit and pepper from the Grenache. Ripe fruit of black cherry and raspberry with currant, some pepper, toasted leather and dusty minerality. Medium weight and ample fruit — though a touch hollow on the mid-palate — but a solid finish. I purchased this on sale for $17.99 a bottle. There isn’t a lot of it to be found, but would certainly recommend this wine if you can locate it.
personalwinebuyer.wordpress.com 