France - Rhône Valley - Southern Rhône
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Grenache/Syrah
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Domaine de Montine
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2006
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Red
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Medium Dry
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Medium Full Bodied
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Game/Beef/Pork/Cheese/Vegetarian
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Drink or keep
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Emotion, Côteaux Du Tricastin
Ref: A051306
A real star of our visit to the southern Rhône, eclipsing most grander wines from more famous appellations. Made from 50% Syrah and 50% Grenache, this very deep-coloured, almost black wine, has a nose of cassis and tar, with a touch of exotic spice. Superbly ripe tannins are smothered by a succulent and sensual black fruit and there is a perfect balance giving this 'classic' great length. This is an old vine cuvée - 60 year-old vines sourced from their very best parcels which was vinified for 25 days and then aged in a mixture of small oak barrels, 500 litre casks - 20% of which were new and large 'foudres' for a further year. It offers fantastic value for money."
One of the most positive results of a recent buying trip in the Rhône Valley, was our fortuitous discovery of the quite delicious wines from Domaine de Montine, situated at Grignan in the heartlands of Tricastin country. Owned by the Monteillet family for three generations, the 70 hectare estate is run by two brothers, Jean-Luc Monteillet who is in charge of wine-making and the cellars and Claude - or Claudy to his friends! who handles the viticultural side of the business. The domaine is split up in to 55 hectares of vines - 45 hectares in the Côteaux du Tricastin communes of Grignan and Valaurie and 10 hectares in the Côtes du Rhône communes of Grillon and Taulignan and 6 hectares of lavender production, 3 hectares of truffle "oak woods" and a further 6 hectares of woodland.
Since 1994, the Monteillet's have been working their vineyards using eco-friendly methods that conform to our requirements to achieve a "smiley face" in the CPW catalogue. All the vines are short-pruned using the Royat cordon method, this guaranteeing low yields from the outset. The soil has seen no man-made fertiliser and all the vineyards have been laid to grass to ensure deep vine-root penetration to add a further layer of mineral complexity and to reduce vine stress. No fungicides or pesticides are used and the maximum yield for the Tricastin vines - which have an average age of 25 years old is 45 hectolitres/ hectare, well below the legal norm of 52 hectolitres per hectare.
Harvesting is 50% manual and 50% by machine, depending on the slopes of the various vineyard zones. The winery is extremely well equipped with temperature-controlled stainless steel vats for the white and rosé.
The grapes are sourced from the communes of Grignan and Valaurie, from chalky clay soils with an overlay of small stony deposits. Green harvesting in June is the order of the day to ensure a further reduction in yields. The blend of cépages is 50% Grenache and 50% Syrah which were vinified at 28°-30°C for 22 days.
£10.08
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