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Rasteau La Ponce 2009, Domaine des Escaravailles
Rasteau La Ponce 2009, Domaine des Escaravailles
Bottle Price: £14.95
Case Price: £170.4
- Country: France
- Region: Rhone-Alpes
- Grape Variety: Grenache, Syrah
- Alcohol: 15%
- Bottle Size: 75cl
or
You can mix any 12 bottles of wine(or more) to get the ‘case price’ for each bottle.
The 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Rasteau La Ponce (70% Grenache and 30% Syrah) reveals a smoky, chocolaty, meaty character as well as abundant quantities of black cherry jam displayed in a full-bodied, sensationally concentrated, dense, chewy style that saturates the palate. The vintage’s greatness is noticeable in the noble, ripe tannins and stunning length. This serious wine should age for 10-15 years.
91-93 Points Wine Advocate
Domaine des Escaravailles - Rasteau, Southern Rhone
Tasting at Gilles Ferran's cavé is one of our eagerly anticipated trips each year. High on a hillside overlooking the village of Cairanne, with breathtaking views over the plains of the Southern Rhone valley, the domaine has been in family hands since 1953. Its name comes from a nickname bestowed on the monks who once owned and worked the vineyard who, from far below, resembled scarab beetles (escaravailles) as they worked between the vines.
These wines have been on our list since we first started out and they continue to please us and our customers. With organic production and hand-harvesting of the Grenache, Syrah and Carignan, the resulting wines offer a depth of fruit and quality rarely seen at in this price range.
An area of world famous vineyards which starts south of Lyon at Ampuis and runs down to the Côtes de Provence. Grape types include Grenache, Syrah, Mourvédre, Cinsault, Marsanne and Roussanne and these produce wines of immense pedigree and quality, including the dark purple Côte Rotie wines and the fruity Viognier.
The southern Rhône sub-region has a more Mediterranean climate with milder winters and hot summers. Drought can be a problem in the area, but limited irrigation is permitted. The differing terroirs, together with the rugged landscape which partly protects the valleys from the Mistral, produce microclimates which give rise to a wide diversity of wines. A feature of the cultivation of the region is the use of large pebbles around the bases of the vines to absorb the heat of the sun during the day to keep the vines warm at night when, due to the cloudless skies, there is often a significant drop in temperature.
Rasteau is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for wine in the southern Rhône wine region of France, covering both fortified and unfortified wines. The sweet fortified wines (Vin Doux Naturel, VDN) can be red, rosé or white, and have long been produced under the Rasteau AOC. In 2010 dry red wines (unfortified) were also added to the appellation, effective from the 2009 vintage.
The Rasteau appellation covers mostly the commune of Rasteau, but also includes some vineyards in Cairanne and Sablet.
From 1996, Rasteau was one of the village names that could be added to Côtes du Rhône Villages. In 2002, the Rasteau winegrower's syndicate requested that Rasteau should become its own appellation. This was finally approved by INAO in 2010, effective from the 2009 vintage.