2022-C Fontareche Piquepoul Noir Rose, Aude Hauterive IGP, Languedoc, France (750ml)
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A Monthly Wine Club Selection
Château Fontarèche, which takes its name from the Latin “fonte erecto” (the fountain that springs), is one of the great historic wine estates of Languedoc, dating back to the tenth century. The current domaine consists of 200 hectares surrounding an ancient fortress that was constructed in the twelfth century. It has been owned by the Comte de Lamy’s family for nine generations, including the famous painter, Pierre Mignard, director of the Royal Academy of Painting under King Louis XIV. Not only was he the portrait painter for the king and major figures at the court, but his works include the paintings which decorate the dome of the Church of the Val-de-Grâce in Paris, as well as The Virgin of the Grapes which is on display at the Louvre Museum.
Led by winemaker, Vincent Dubernet, a fifth-generation oenologist who joined the team at Fontarèche as Director of Winemaking in 2008, Fontarèche produces an assortment of impressive wines sourced from their 160 hectares of vines planted equally in the Corbières AOC and the surrounding IGP’s. Of the more than 17 different grape varieties planted throughout their holdings, Fontarèche boasts four hectares of very rare Piquepoul Noir, which lends itself perfectly to rosé. Indigenous to the Languedoc, most of the vines were destroyed following the phylloxera epidemic. The 2022 vintage marks the first time that Fontarèche has produced a rosé exclusively from this fascinating grape.
100% Piquepoul Noir from a young plot planted in 2017. The grapes underwent an unsulfured machine harvest, before being destemmed and then crushed. The must saw skin maceration for 90 minutes in a closed-cage, stainless-steel press, long draining without pressure and limited rotations. After a gentle pressing with immediate separation of the fractions and a static cold settling (at 39 °F) for five days; the juice was carefully racked and fermented. The young wine saw lees contact for an additional ten days after alcoholic fermentation, before sulfur addition. No malolactic. The young wine was aged for three months in stainless steel before being gently fined and filtered before bottling.
Pale salmon pink hue. Delicate scents of fresh red berries, followed by flavors of Alpine strawberries, tart cherries, raspberries and a touch of lemon flesh. Fresh, precise and graceful on the palate, this delicious expression of rosé exhibits balanced acidity and a softly fruited, slightly mineral finish.