2013 Côtes du Rhône Villages, Cairanne, Ventabren, Dom. des Escaravailles
About this WINE
Domaine des Escaravailles
Located high in the hills behind the villages of Roaix and Rasteau, Escaravailles dates from 1953 and is now in the more than capable hands of Gilles Ferran, who has constructed a new cuverie and built the reputation of the domaine into one of the leading names in the region.
Escaravaille, for those of an inquisitive disposition, is the Occitane word for beetle (hence the labels) and also the term once used to describe the black-robed monks of the region, presumably from the Benedictine order. Gilles farms 40 hectares in Rasteau and 15 in Cairanne and his wines are justly celebrated as leading examples in both villages.
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.
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Description
Gilles Ferran has really excelled with the Ventabren this year. Twenty percent Syrah adds lifted violet aromas to the old-vine Grenache and Carignan partnership. The wine is velvety, spicy and amazingly poised, the result of a long cuvaison. The oldest Grenache grapes, which sometimes go into the Hermitage cuvée, which wasn’t made in 2013, add further gravitas. Drink now to 2017.
Simon Field MW - Rhône Buyer
Escaravailles is located high in the hills behind the villages of Roaix and Rasteau, where the vines enjoy a special microclimate: relatively warm despite the altitude, with exceptional expositions and soils which are dominated by red and blue clay. Gilles Ferran describes his 2013s as ‘aromatic and fresh’, to which I would add the wines’ generous and very attractive texture, which stands out immediately.
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