Clos Des Lumières Les Vignes de Papy Petit Verdot
WHY WE LOVE IT
- Clos Des Lumières uses sustainable agriculture principles. They limit the amount of fertilizers are used and use only enough to maintain a balance in the soil or when required by the vines.
- Harvesting is done during the night to limit oxidation.
Varietal Composition: 100% Petit Verdot
Elaboration: The vineyard is made up of alluvial sand soil from the Gardon river, just a mile south of the famous Pont du Gard, a 2000 year old aqueduct built by the Romans, world’s biggest Roman aqueduct ever built. Underneath we have a grey clay soil from the Pliocène period (- 3 to -6 million years), including a deposit of algees when this area was covered by the Mediterranean. This region also benefits from the largest number of sunshine hours of France, important for the photo synthesis, sugar and maturing process. The northern wind called “Mistral,” blows up to 100 days a year, and keeps the vines clean and healthy.
The yield is kept at a low level in order to have a high quality of grape. This is done by hedging, leaf-thinning and green harvesting. The harvest is done during the night to limit oxidation. The grapes are destemmed and crushed, followed by a cold pre-fermentation maceration to enhance fruit aromas in the wine. The vinification is done at low temperature with regular pumping over and cap-punching.
Tasting Notes: Les Vignes de Papy Petit Verdot is fun. The grape is more known for being a variety from the Bordeaux region. In that region, the grape expresses its strong tannin structure, the harshness only disappears over the years and therefore, it is often blended with other grapes in a smaller percentage.
Planted in a fine sand soil in an area with a lot more sunshine resulting in more complexity, finesse and no harshness at all. The sunshine also brings a bit more roundness in this wine, smoother tannins, making it very pleasant to drink… even young!
PRESS
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PRODUCER BACKGROUND
Domaine le Clos des Lumières is a 50-hectare, family farm founded in 1946 by the grandfather of the domaine’s current vigneron, Gerald Serrano. The ambitious and talented Gerald Serrano is solely responsible for the recent “coming out” of this estate – Prior to taking things over in 2003 Gerald’s father was selling all grapes on the estate to the local cooperative.
Having grown up on the property, Gerald is intimately familiar with the terroir here. The oldest vines now edge 60 years in age and this land really seems to “pack the character in.”. We’ve sold massive amounts of Rhone wine over the last forty years, and these are the most well-received Cotes du Rhone values we’ve carried in our history.