2012 Domanie de la Madone Speciale Vieilles Vignes Fleurie Beaujolais

Fleurie is one of the best-known of the ten Beaujolais crus. Domaine de la Madone is located on the renowned hillside of ‘la Madone’ in Fleurie which is considered to have one of the best growing conditions for wine in the area. It is blessed with exceptional amounts of sunshine and the soil is composed of pink granite which is highly suited to growing old-vine Gamay.

The 13 hectare Domaine has been cultivated by the Despres family for five generations. The vineyards are farmed ‘lutte raisonnée’ or as naturally as possible without the use of herbicides or pesticides and all grapes are hand-picked and rigorously sorted to keep only the ripest and healthiest to make the wine. Traditional fermentation with up to 12 months in vats.

Sourced from 60-80 year old vines this wine displays a semi translucent bright dark red colour with a tinge of black on the edges and a crimson red hue. The nose shows good lift with ripe dark cherry and plum scents intermingling with clove followed by light earth and spicy end notes. Light in body the palate has flavours of dark cherries alongside some light clove, earthy cedar and spice finishing dry with fine grained tannins. Aftertaste of dark cherries, a hint of clove and spicy cedar.