Domaine de l'Espigouette Côtes du Rhône Vieilles Vignes, France
Vintage - 2020
Region - Rhone
Grapes - 70% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre, 5% Carignan, 5% Cinsault.
ABV - 14%
Viticulture - Sustainable/organic principles
Just a luscious, velvety, silky mouthful of dark cherries and raspberries. Rich and supple but somehow still fresh. All wrapped up with super-fine tannins that whisper ‘let’s run away together and mingle over a leg of lamb’. I love this wine…
Domaine de l’ Espigouette has been family-owned for four generations with Bernard Latour now at the helm with his wife and two sons - Julien and Emilien. The family have always produced wine in line with organic principles - they just only decided to bother with certification recently!
Farming just 32 hectares in total this Côtes du Rhône ‘Vieilles Vignes’ (Old Vines) is made from vines that are somewhere between 50 - 100 years old with a fair whack coming from vines that have been producing fruit for 80 years plus. With age vines typically produce lower yields. Fewer grapes of better quality so the theory goes. If this wine is anything to go by I think the theory holds firm.
Aged for 12 months in concrete vats prior to bottling allowing the wine to develop but with no further oak influence.
