Altan d'Aussières
The vintage
The relatively mild winter in 2020 led to an early bud break and increased the threat of fungal diseases. A warm, relatively wet summer, with a hot, dry late summer period, without scorching high temperatures, allowed the grapes to reach their optimal aromatic potential slowly, while maintaining a sufficient level of acidity.
As the growth cycle progressed, the vines lost some of their earliness and the grapes were harvested about ten days earlier than the previous vintage.
Location
The property is nestled in steep hills, slightly inland from the Mediterranean coast near Narbonne in the south of France.
Terroir
Altan is named after a wind that blows in from the sea. The grapes are selected from the plots at the base of the slopes that separate the property from the Mediterranean, thus benefiting from the breeze that brings freshness and humidity and tempers the sometimes dry, arid climate. These conditions allow the berries to maintain a good balance and to keep relatively fine skins.
Winemaking
Altan d'Aussières is a wine that offers a superb expression of the classic Corbières grape varieties (Syrah, Grenache and Carignan). Both the vinification and ageing stages are carried out with a view to expressing the specific characteristics of each grape variety. Forty percent of the grapes are vinified with carbonic maceration in order to express the particularly distinctive aromatic markers of the Carignan and Syrah. The rest of the grapes are vinified traditionally in stainless steel and concrete vats. To preserve the pure expression of the terroirs obtained during the vinification process, the wine is aged without barrels to avoid any additional external aromatic input. The ageing process consists of 6 months in vats, then 8 to 10 months in bottles. This second period allows the wine to regain its fullness and cohesiveness after the ageing in vats and bottling.
Grapes
Tasting
A beautiful concentration of fruit and aromas, Altan d'Aussières is a generous, full-bodied wine that offers a complex palette of flavours from deep within the identity of our terroir, with scents of the garrigue (broom, rock rose), and aromatic herbs (thyme, sage, juniper and rosemary). The batches produced by carbonic maceration give the blend a creamy, velvety and yet firm structure, with an aromatic palette of fresh, very ripe fruit (crushed berries, strawberries). This complex mosaic is easily identifiable, constituting the very specific Corbières identity marker that we wanted to bring out with the techniques used in Altan’s production. Altan d'Aussières thus offers a harmonious expression from the moment it is opened and does not need further bottle ageing.
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