2013 Vacqueyras, Les 2 Monardes, Domaine de la Monardière

2013 Vacqueyras, Les 2 Monardes, Domaine de la Monardière

Product: 20138138624
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2013 Vacqueyras, Les 2 Monardes, Domaine de la Monardière

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Description

Damien Vache blends Grenache (70 percent) and Syrah (30 percent) in this excellent cuvée, which is fermented in concrete and matured in old wood. A Vacqueyras archetype, Les Deux Monards marries dark fruit and spice, with distinctive notes of liquorice allied to a disarming sweetness on the finish. Drink 2016 to 2019.
Simon Field MW - Rhône Buyer

Damien Vache compares 2013 to 2008 and to 2001: it is better than 2008 but, he admits, not quite as good as 2001. This seems about right, especially as 2001 is one of my favourite years over the last two decades, and therefore a hard act to follow. Irregular flowering and a late harvest were the key features here, as elsewhere. Minimal intervention and diligent aging have ensured the quality of the wine, which will give great pleasure in the short to medium term.

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About this WINE

Domaine de la Monardiere

Domaine de la Monardiere

Damien Vache’s excellent Domaine de la Monardière is recognised as one of the very best in the Vacqueyras wine appellation. The distinctive clay and sand dominated soils give Vacqueyras an identity suitably different from that of near-neighbour Gigondas. The wines are perhaps a little more elegant here, with more focus on primary fruit and in the best examples, very finely etched tannins.

Les Deux Monardes is a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah, which has been aged for 12 months in concrete tanks and then bottled without fining or filtration.

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Vacqueyras

Vacqueyras

Vacqueyras was the second Côtes du Rhônes Villages to be upgraded to AOC status, after Gigondas, in 1990 and rightly so. These excellent-value wines are like turbo-charged Côtes du Rhônes: dark and rich with the classic herbs and warm peppery spice of the Southern Rhône.

Compared to neighbouring Gigondas, they are slightly more restrained and rustic – in the best sense of the word – and slightly cheaper. They are made from a little less Grenache (50 percent minimum) with the balance made up with SyrahMourvèdre and Cinsault.

You should give Vacqueyras two to three years to come round, but they can then last up to a decade. The 770 hectares of vineyards are spread across the communes of Vacqueyras and Sarrians in the foothills of the Dentelles de Montmirail and produce almost exclusively red wines. The small amount of fresh, fruity rosé is normally well worth the search, while the tiny amount of white wine is mostly not.

Recommended producers: La Bastide de St. VincentMontirius

 

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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.

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