Côte-Rôtie Les Bécasses 2018 6x75cl

• 75cl bottle

The nose is full of raspberry with hints of violet, spices and a touch of black olive and “tapenade”, rosemary. The palate is unctuous with a woody, spicy and vanilla finish.

Vineyards

The soil is composed of chlorite and ferruginous mica-schist blending in loess depressions. The soil is also made up of schist on the South and Southeast slopes, allowing the Syrah to express itself with tremendous power and great elegance with its lovely floral notes.

Vintage

Who would have predicted that this 2018 vintage would cause such joy and rank among the remarkable Rhône Valley vintages that have come on after another since 2015? Strong rains, heat waves and violent, localised storms were the marks of this vintage full of intensity and doubts, until the exceptionally hot September. It is a vintage where we had to react fast to relieve these hot waves, but that lead to prodigious wines with a great aging potential, with preserved acidity and silky tannins thanks to specific work in the cellar and on the tanks to maintain this balance.

Winemaking

After destemming, the grapes go into concrete tanks. Daily punching (pigeage) ensures a good extraction of colour and tannins. The temperature does not exceed 33°C. Fermentation lasts between 3 and 4 weeks depending on the vintage. For fermentation, we decided to use indigenous yeasts to allow our terroirs to begin expressing themselves from this key stage in the winemaking process. Ageing lasts 14-16 months. 80% of the wine is aged in oak barrels with a majority of new wood. The remaining 20% are aged in stainless steel vats which allows us to preserve the purity of the fruit and the floral notes, which are a distinctive feature of great Côte-Rôtie wines.

Enjoy with:

• Grilled and Roasted Red Meats
• Grilled and Roasted White Meats
• Fish/Shellfish
• Pizza/Pasta
• Casseroles/Stews
• Oriental
• Spicy

Why not try with Asian dishes, hearty fish courses like tuna, mushrooms and pasta.