2020 C&J Grieco Vignerons Cinsault Debut D’Un Histoire

2020 C&J Grieco Vignerons Cinsault Debut D’Un Histoire

2020 C&J Grieco Vignerons Cinsault Debut D’Un Histoire The 2020 Debut d’une Histoire from Christelle and Jerome Grieco is essentially a Cotes-du-Rhone Villages bottle, but as it is comprised soleley of cinsault, it is excluded from the appellation and has to be sold as a Vins de France. The 2018 version was fermented with whole clusters in cement tanks and raised in the same. It offers up a superb nose of dark berries, hung game, wood smoke, Christmas spices, a fine base of stony soil tones and a nice touch of French roast.

On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, structured and impressively solid at the core, with great precision, ripe, chewy tannins and outstanding length and grip on the complex and very serious finish. Like all of the Grieco’s wines, this needs extended aeration to blossom right now, but will age beautifully. This is a stunning value, as it is probably better than ninety percent of the Chateauneufs out there these days.

Domaine de La Biscarelle

The vineyards of Domaine de la Biscarelle are located in the middle of the communes of Cabrieres and Maucoil. The terroir is red clay, sand, small pebbles and rocky soils. The vines are mostly Grenache. But they also have plantings of Cinsault, Mourvedre, Syrah, Counoise and Terret Noir. The vines are planted in the Cabrieres and Palestor lieux-dits.

While much of the production is placed into the wine of Domaine de la Biscarelle, a portion of the harvest is still sold to negociants, most notably, Louis Bernard.

Domaine de la Biscarelle produces two red Chateauneuf du Pape wines and they also produce wine from 17 hectares of vines they own that are planted in the Cotes du Rhone appellation. Domaine de la Biscarelle is produced from a blend of 90% Grenache and assorted other varietals Cinsault, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Terret Noir. The Grenache vines are old. Some of their Grenache vines are more than 100 years of age.

The grapes are not usually destemmed. The wine is vinified in traditional cement vats and aged in cement tanks for 12 months. The production is on average, 1,500 cases per year.