Tour Blanc - 'Vielle Vignes' - Ugni Blanc - SW, FR - 2009

Satellite's Hot Take

A wine for aging and drinking right now. Wildly complex and delicious from a magical tiny grower. Try it!

Notes from the Winery/Importer

For the Vielles Vignes, the vines are South to South West facing and are 50 to 100 year old. Single, double cordon, and short cordon, trellis trained, untopped, full grass cover, sheep grazed, use of only biodynamic and field sprays and plant macerations, mulching under vines, unploughed. The soils are clay, gravel, silt, and sand on marine fossil ferruginous sandstone over limestone and the climate is principally oceanic with prevailing winds from the Bay of Gascony (Atlantic), the Pyrenees, and a lesser dry continental influence from the Midi. The wine is then whole cluster slow pressed and then via gravity alone are put into stainless steel tanks. It then settles naturally for 12 hours and undergoes slow spontaneous fermentation for 6 months on field yeasts without any temperature or other manipulation. It then spends an additional 6 months on the lees. Winemakers tasting notes: Pale copper gold, with white flowers, green apples, exotic fruit and a hint of tobacco. The pineapply fruit lingers through to a vigorous mineral finish. Great freshness balances out the spice and depth of the alcohol. Sweet aromas of dried plums and hay from the bottom of the glass evoke the wine's roots in the Bas Armagnac. Recommended food pairings : oysters, sea bream, shoulder of lamb, veal, poultry, curries.

Notes on the Producer

Eighteen years ago, we discovered this magical chateau and its vines perched above the Landais forest, between the Pyrenees mountains and the Bay of Gascony. The vineyard is planted on differing profiles of clay, gravel and sand with an underlying marine fossil ferruginous sandstone. The average age of the vines is 50 years and yields are kept low. -Wine Monger Imports