Calmel & Joseph La Madone

Garnet red with beautiful, brilliant highlights. The nose, typically “Grenache”, is very lively, with soft aromas of cherry and spices completed by truffle, humous and smoky, grilled notes. Great precision and balance in the mouth, with velvety black fruit such as blackcurrant and blackberry, but also a bright touch of redcurrant that harmoniously integrates with notes of garrigue, thyme and white pepper. A fresh vintage whose profile perfectly reflects the parcel selection carried out on the Domaine. The grain of the tannins is extremely elegant, offering extraordinary persistence. This vintage offers the expression of an astonishing, exceptional wine with the potential to evolve marvellously over the coming years.

Appellation
AOP Corbières

Varieties
Grenache 65%, Syrah 35%

Terroir
Sandy clay limestone

Vinification
For this vintage, the harvest began on 15 September 2018 with our hillside Syrahs. As is our custom, the best vines and bunches were selected on the bush after berry tasting. The Grenache were picked on 29 September following the same principles, with the objective being perfect phenolic maturity. The 2018 vintage was characterized by a very wet spring and early summer, followed by hot weather right through to the harvest. The selected grapes were loaded into small 15kg crates and on arrival in the cellar 85% were destemmed, with the rest being vatted in whole bunches. The two grape varieties were fermented in separate vats because of the disparity in harvest dates. Maceration lasted three weeks at a temperature of 25°C. Malolactic fermentation took place under the cap.

Ageing
12 months in oak barrels (30 % new, 40 % one wine old, 30% two wines old) without added sulphites.