Cairanne Cotes du Rhone Villages ‘La Cote Sauvage’

Winemaker

Julien Dugas

Appellation

Cairanne

Varieties

Grenache (Garnacha), Mourvedre

Viticulture

The Southern Rhône village of Cairanne lies in the heart of the Southern Rhône valley, north east of Orange. For this La Côte Sauvage fully ripe Grenache and Syrah grapes are hand picked from old bush vines on selected hillside slopes within Cairanne, northeast of Orange in the heart of the Rhône valley. The vineyards have the classic argilo-calcaire soil of limestone pebbles over clay.

Terroir

Classic argilo-calcaire soil of limestone pebbles over clay.

Ratings & Reviews

Vineyard

The estate is focused around six plots. At the highest point on La Montée du Ventabren (altitude 300m) sit Les Six Terrasses to the left and La Pauline to the right. Both are of Grenache Noir, date from the same vintage (planted 1969), and are terraced vineyards. These old bush vine Grenache Noir with their terroir of large, heat retaining pebble stones, produce low yields of deeply concentrated grapes. They are some of the best plots in the whole of the Cairanne appellation.

At a slightly lower altitude through the estate woodland is Font Crozes. A plot that is well-exposed to the wind and well suited to Mourvèdre – like Grenache Noir a late-ripening grape. Just around the corner from Font Crozes is south/south-west facing Saint Andéol, planted with Boutinot's oldest Grenache Noir. Planting records date back as long ago as 1946. Gloriously low-yielding and generally the last rows picked.

Of course in addition to Grenache Noir the other grape variety essential to any Cairanne is Syrah. Lower down the same hillside to Les Six Terrasses and La Pauline are two plots named La Ruche. The sixth plot is a small triangle called La Truffière. La Truffière was once a truffle orchard, but a rigorous soil analysis determined that Syrah would be well suited to this terroir.

Vinification

To make this Cairanne, our winemaker uses traditional vinification techniques - indigenous yeast and a long cuvaison period, followed by maturation for 22 months in mostly old French oak barrels to develop great concentration, complexity and finesse in the wine.

Features

Bottle, Cork, Vegan

Available Sizes (L)

0.750