2009 Silex Rouge, Côtes Du Rhône Village Massif D'Uchaux, Brugaliere/Viguier
About this WINE
Domaine Chapoton
The history of Domaine Chapoton goes back to the reign of Louis XIV although the wines of the region have been known since Roman times.
Current owners of Domaine Chapoton are Annika and Serge Remusan who took over the farm in 1981, added a somewhat piece-meal winery and considerable savoir faire. Domaine Chapoton is now spread over 60 hectares and four villages and is seen as one of the finest winemakers in the region, exploiting the limestone terroir of the hillside of the Massif d'Uchaux to make expressive and elegant red and white wines.
The domaine owns plantings of predominantly Grenache (some over 60 years old) Syrah and Carignan, complemented with a small proportion of Mourvedre, Cinsault, Marsanne, Viogner, Roussanne and Cournoise.
The wines are produced as part of the Côtes du Rhône and the Vin de Pays de Vaucluse appellations
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
From one of the more obscure Côtes-du-Rhône villages, this grenache/mourvèdre/syrah blend boasts ripe fruit and lovely minerality.
Andrew Neather, Evening Standard, February 2012
The eponymous stony sandy soils, some of them consisting of startling pink flintstone, are located in the hilly Massif d’Uchaux region, one of the latest enclaves ( not strictly speaking a village) to have been promoted to a Côtes Du Rhône Villages Appellation. Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre are present in equal proportions and all equally important in the ensemble, which impresses for its generous weight of dark fruit, its very ripe but integrated tannins and its refreshing finish. 2009 is very fine in the Southern Rhône and it is only fitting therefore, that this very fine producer has excelled, in a similar vein to his applauded 2007.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)
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