2015
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Gabian, north of Pézenas
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Dry white - full bodied, aged 2 years in oak barrels |
100% Marsanne |
14.0%
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Shellfish/seafood, chicken, aged Comté cheese
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Still fine
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2018-2023
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The grapes are fermented and macerated at a warm temperature for 5 weeks in whole clusters, resulting in an "orange" wine, with plenty of body, colour and tannin. And the colour is, well, a bright, limpid orange (or a sort of 24 carat gold). The nose is profoundly "winey", with little hints of stone fruits and honey, herbs and spices, new leather and, you've guessed it, oranges too - more precisely, essence of orange oil. You know like when you find a desiccated clementine that escaped the bowl and went unnoticed for a few weeks(!) Add in a hint of polished old wood, some decaying leaves and the merest hint of very fine Cognac and you get the picture - a very, very complex wine. Again, the palate is intensely "winey", with myriad stone fruit, soft citrus and secondary elements woven together into something really quite sublime. Beautifully rich, but equally well balanced, with cracking acidity and a perceptible streak of grape skin/seed tannin, allied to a quite dry, (rather than oily) texture and a long, gently warming, bitter/spiced orange marmalade finish. It really is a fabulously quirky and utterly more-ish wine - and quite possibly like no other you have tasted before! Certified organic and biodynamic. |
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