Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues

50% Grenache, 50% Mourvèdre. Organic and biodynamic. 30% whole bunch. Aged in 80% Stockinger foudres, 20% terracotta jars. Tank sample. "Very bright high-toned, pure and sweet fragrant fruit. Very focused palate which is supported by extremely refined elegant and layered tannins and a dark-fruit spiced note. Excellent extraction which shows off the elegant fruit character. These are our historic parcels, the terroir in which the wines of our estate have been firmly rooted for six generations, starting when the Domaine was established in 1874. In 1852 the town council of Gigondas decided to auction 12 hectares of communal land, and the vines that were soon planted there revealed these great terroirs. The grapes are hand-picked into crates and sorted manually in the vineyard before a second, table sorting in the cellar. A proportion is destemmed, the quantity being determined by the nature of the vintage and the parcel, and the grapes are fed by gravity into the vats to ensure the integrity of the berries. Fermentation takes place in thermo-regulated stainless-steel vats for 20 to 30 days, with two long pumping over sessions daily. Punching down is decided after tasting. Pressed pneumatically. Malolactic fermentation in vat. The wines are clarified by settling over winter in the cellar. Barrel filling occurs in the spring. 18 months in 36-hectoliter oak Stockinger foudres, and 8-hectoliter terracotta amphorae. Unfined and unfiltered at bottling. ABV 14.5%