Domaine Viret 2016 'Colonnades' Vin de France

Winemaking Notes:  “Les Colonnades” is a single vineyard wine, planted to 100-year-old Grenache and Mourvèdre in pebbly red-clay and limestone. Philippe picks purposefully late so that the Grenache teeters on the brink of over-maturity, but it remains adamantly on the fresh side of the divide, and this tardy harvesting imbues it with a wealth of autumnal character and spicy, tobacco-y depth. The articulation of iron-inflected minerality here is truly profound, and it blossoms as the wine ages. “Les Colonnades” spends four years in concrete vat with no added sulfur at all after a 45-day maceration.