Chateau Beauchene Cote's du Rhone Les Reserve Rouge

Tasting note:

Les Réserve" is a Côtes du Rhône from Château Beauchêne and already shows what they are capable of. Made from quite old vines for this appellation (30 to 50 years old!), it shows intense flavors of ripe red fruit, violet and black berries with nice spicy notes. Very, very well made Côtes du Rhône for this price!.

Chateau Beauchene

THE VERGNIAUD-BERNARD FAMILY

Michel Bernard's family has been involved in viticulture in Orange since the 17th century. "Mesnagers", that is to say farmers in the revolution of 1789, bought the first vines during the sale of national goods in 1794. They are still part of the family vineyard. Michel Bernard and his wife Dominique Vergniaud have been responsible for the wine growing since 1971, which they have gradually expanded. In 2004 their eldest daughter Amandine joined them. Today the castle is the seat of winemaking and maturation of the various family vineyards. It includes 70 hectares of vineyards, divided among the appellations:

- Châteauneuf du Pape

- Côtes du Rhône Village

- Côtes du Rhône

The entire harvest is bottled at the castle. In close and permanent contact with the Wine University and the Inter Rhône Research Laboratory, Michel Bernard personally takes care of the cultivation and viticulture work. Dominique Vergniaud oversees administration, sales in France and in the cellar, and Amandine Bernard manages export sales and marketing from her London office and takes care of personal care for clients in Europe.

His principles in the vineyards are simple: the vineyards are ploughed, no herbicides are used, treatments are kept to a minimum and pruning is severe to keep yields low. Vinification takes place in open wooden barrels, all grapes are completely destemmed (à la Jayer), and fermentation is not caused by adding cultured yeast, so it can take a few days to start (a "natural" cold pre-maceration ) using own. New barrels are added every year for maturation, but their proportion remains very low to produce wines where fruit dominates. It is important to emphasize that there is no recipe here. Winemaking follows a general theme, but techniques can be adapted from year to year to suit the conditions of the vintage.

Chateau Beauchene