Côtes-du-Rhône
Terrasses de l'Eridan
Red 2020
A fresh and light wine. This quintessential Côtes-du-Rhône is made for quaffing.
After the hail damage of 2019, we had to nurse our vineyards back to health with a range of gentle but complementary nutrients. This made 2020 a technically exacting year, especially since the weather reserved many surprises for us. Spring was extraordinarily hot and dry and, despite a short break in June when some welcome rain fell, summer saw a continuation of drought conditions right up until the harvest. With a high risk of mildew at the start of the season, constant and unpredictable winds, powdery mildew half way through the season and the threat of high temperatures and scorching, we were spared nothing, and it required a major effort to cope. Fortunately, the occasional shower, fairly cool nights and morning dew meant the vines did not suffer too much from the summer heat, and all our hard work seems to have paid off with the promise of a fine vintage. To avoid the hottest moments of the day, we began picking from 6 am so as to pick the grapes while they were cool. We began with the whites on August 19 and continued with the reds through until September 16. First tastings revealed aromatic wines of great freshness, with degrees rarely exceeding 13.5°. After so many twists and turns, it is a vintage that reverts to origin in a very “Northern Rhône” style, after the mediterranean vintages of 2018 and 2019.
The terroir offers a variety of soils, both chalky-clay with pebbles and gravelly-clay. The vines grow on terraces and are rich in quartz and marly limestone.
- Harvested grapes are sorted and destalked
- Vinified in wooden and stainless steel vats
- Aged partly in wooden tronconic vats and in stainless steel vats for eight months.
Beautiful intense and deep red robe. This wine opens with a very expressive nose typical of the Côtes du Rhône with notes of pepper, spices and juicy and slightly jammy red fruit. On the palate, all the flavours of a sun-drenched wine are expressed with very persistent and generous but well-balanced tannins. Delicate, and irresistible aromas of red fruit and spices. A wine full of charm with a southern accent !