Chateau Pradeaux 2019 'Le Lys' Bandol Rouge AOC

Chateau Pradeaux 2019 'Le Lys' Bandol Rouge AOC

Item Number: 20076

UPC: None

Country: France
Region: Provence
Sub Region: Provence
Appellation/AVA: Bandol AOC
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vintage: 2019
Grape(s): 85% Mourvèdre / 10% Grenache / 5% Cinsault
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 13.5
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Soil Type: Limestone clay

The Portalis family reserves their oldest vines for their flagship Bandol Rouge, and employs their younger plantings of Mourvèdre, complemented by splashes of Grenache and Cinsault, in the Le Lys.

The Pradeaux Le Lys is destemmed around 50%, in contrast to the old-vine cuvée which is always fermented entirely whole cluster. Etienne employs destemming to preserve equilibrium in a cuvée whose younger and less substantially sappy fruit may threaten to be overwhelmed by stem tannins. Le Lys spends two years in large oak casks; it’s a long enough stint for its elements to harmonize beautifully, but the fruit remains ever so slightly juicier and more primary than in the old-vine Bandol Rouge.

This wine delivers plenty of leather and a thick wall of black fruit. Even if it is less imposingly built than the estate's flagship Bandol, it is far more serious, authoritative, and layered wine than most of what the appellation produces—and it is unmistakably Pradeaux to its core.