Winemaker Notes
100% (very) old vine Grenache, the wine opens with soft floral aromas with hints of ripe strawberry and fresh cut herbs layered beneath. Balanced on the palate, raspberry notes give way to finely integrated tannins and soft touches of garrigue. Finesse & elegance in a glass.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Almost all Grenache, the 2011 Cotes du Roussillon Villages La Roque comes from 80-90-year-old vines planted on calcaire and schist soils. Aged all in demi-muid, it offers up a stunning, intensely perfumed bouquet of kirsch and blackberry-styled fruit intermixed with violets, scrub brush, saddle leather and a saline-like minerality that develops with time in the glass. Full-bodied, layered and rich, with excellent concentration, no apparent heaviness or weight, and fine tannin that emerges on the finish, it is a stunningly elegant Grenache that will benefit from short-term cellaring, and evolve gracefully for over 15 years.
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.
An appellation solely for dry red wines from Roussillon, Côtes du Roussillon-Villages is a step up in quality compared to, simply, Côtes du Roussillon. The area is in the northern third of Roussillon, bordered on its southern end by the Têt River, which runs precisely from west to east. Five villages can append their own name to the Côtes du Roussillon-Villages appellation name: Caramany, Latour de France, Lesquerde, Tautavel and the last, south of the Têt River, Les Aspres.
Côtes du Roussillon-Villages red wines are blends made from Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and small amounts of Carignan, Cinsault and the lesser known, Lledoner Pelut (a relative of Grenache).