Accolades and Awards:

Campbell Mattinson: 90
Made with syrah. Whole bunches in the ferment. Aude Valley, France. Pale, dry style. Good at it too. Highly refreshing but with just enough sense of interest to make you want a second and third glass. Perfect lunch wine. Texture rises in the wine as it breathes. Strawberry, twigs, herbs, aniseed and a whisper of Turkish delight. On song

From the Winery:

The Aude Valley, stretching between Carcassonne and the Pyrenees in extreme south of France is similar in climate and Limestone soil to the Loire Valley. The high altitude and cooling evening breezes creates wines with varietal character, acidity and freshness.

Made solely from Syrah that completely whole bunch fermented with a short maceration (a few hours) sufficient to impart colour and texture. Following a soft pressing, the juice is given a cool fermentation in stainless steel and allowed to ferment to almost complete dryness. Maturation on lees in stainless steel adds texture and malo-lactic fermentation is prevented to ensure vibrancy.

The vintage began slowly with cool spring weather exacerbated by poor flowering. Summer in the Aude did not really start until late August and even then it was more moderate than elsewhere. Harvest was fine and straight forward. The vintage will be remembered as a cool, low yielding vintage delivering elegant varietally expressive wines.