2012 Domaine de l'Hortus, Grande Cuvée Rouge, Pic Saint Loup

2012 Domaine de l'Hortus, Grande Cuvée Rouge, Pic Saint Loup

Product: 20128136444
Place a bid
 
2012 Domaine de l'Hortus, Grande Cuvée Rouge, Pic Saint Loup

Buying options

You can place a bid for this wine on BBX
Place a bid
Sorry, Out of stock

Description

Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre share the honours in this outstanding and very well named wine. After twelve months in barrel (some 225 litres, some 400 litres) the aromatics are wonderfully seductive, the oak in no way influencing a hymn to Mediterranean sunshine; blackberry, sloe and cherry, with a sprig of rosemary. The palate is equally poised, its tannins reassuringly fine and its fruit fulsome but far from overbearing. The Mourvèdre adds a spicy kick, grounding the higher notes of the Syrah but in no way compromising the pleasure principle. Drink now to 2018.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
The dramatic cliff of the famous eponymous “Pic”, located in the foothills of the Cévennes, provides a fitting backdrop to Domaine de l’Hortus, where wines are crafted under the tutelage of paterfamilias Jean Orliac, one of the most honest, likeable and talented winemakers one could hope to meet.

wine at a glance

Delivery and quality guarantee

About this WINE

Domaine de l'Hortus

Domaine de l'Hortus

The dramatic sheer limestone cliff of the famous ‘Pic’ in Pic Saint-Loup provides a fitting backdrop to the wine Domaine de L’Hortus, which is made up, under the tutellage of Jean Orliac, of one of the most honest, likeable and talented wine-making teams that one could hope to meet.

Monsieur Orliac has been farming the calcerous terraces and quartz-rich escarpments for over three decades and knows better than anyone the minutiae of its soil-structure. His particular love is the Mourvèdre grape; a relationship which predates the variety’s current popularity.

The very special terroir, which forms a balcony to the Cevennes Hills, is located 24 km north of Montpellier, situated below what can best be described as ‘scree slopes’ Behind the drama and the dazzling whiteness of the limestone, there is superb terroir here, skillfully expolited in a series of wines which play to the tune of tradition and nurture the best possible results from the indiginous grapes of the area. The results are wines of great polish and personality, wines of which the region can be justly proud.

Find out more
Southern Rhône Blend

Southern Rhône Blend

The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.

The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.

Find out more