Domaine Aires Hautes Tradition Minervois Rouge 2015
“Les Aires Hautes is one of the modern areas of Minervois that has revealed the terroir of La Livinière and its fleshy and balanced Syrah reds...Gilles Chabbert is one of the best winemakers” ---Robert Parker
Whoa, easy there, Bob, don’t let the secret out. What secret? A kickass, rich round red from the sunny southern France with 90 POINTS and a whopping, strapping, prodigious 66% OFF RETAIL! Monday madness ensues….while it lasts, that is…
“Old-World fruit bomb”, as the Wine Advocate calls it, is about right, but we think it’s come together beautifully in the last year or so in bottle and is just SINGING right now. At $12, it is singing LOUDLY and clearly!! Wow!!
DARK, intense nose and flavors of figs, plum jam, woodsmoke and even a killer sweet soy-like note, this is rich and mouthcoating stuff, just utterly PACKING it in for the shockingly awesome price. Sweet fruit, nice balance, just an astounding buy. If you were in Costco, and had a sample of this (like we do, on our desk) handed to you, you’d definitely buy a case (we did), because...great wine, twelve dollars. NOT $35. That’s what we DO here!! Get some...and get more than you think you will want….while it lasts...
As a family farm, the Domaine des Aires Hautes has set itself ambitious goals: to position each of its products in the top of the range of its category.
This is why the work of the winemaker being defined as such, starts at the plot. It is useless indeed, to have an exceptional terroir if it is not highlighted, and this is the responsibility of the winemaker as a craftsman claiming this label.
Thus the winemaker decides, facing the stable realities of
the soil, to look here, to drain there, to amend further. Thus it is the
craftsman who will make his choice on one grape variety rather than another, on
his root-stock, on a particular clone, on adapted farming methods ...
Technical Details
Country: FranceRegion: Languedoc-Roussillon
Appellation: Minervois
Varietal: Red Rhone Blends
Winemaker: Gilles Chabbert
Aging/Cooperage: 13 months in barrels which have already contained wine once or twice before
Alcohol: 15%
About The Producer
It is in Siran, on the way to Aires, that you will meet Gilles Chabbert.
Already three generations of winegrowers!
It was his grandfather Edmond, then breeder in the Black Mountain, who inaugurated the first estate in 1938.
In 1995, after studying in Carcassonne and his Brevet de Technicien Supérieur in Viticulture and Oenology in his pocket, Gilles decided to take over from his father, René, who is currently the mayor of the village. A family story that continues ...
A few decades later, Gilles joined his older brother Eric, a pharmacist by profession. A brother who does not miss as soon as the opportunity arises to come and relax in Siran and get their hands dirty on this vineyard that fascinates him as much as his brother.Gilles Chabbert has set himself ambitious goals: "Position each of its wines in the top of the range of its category".
That's why his work starts at the plot.
The amendments are made from grape marc.
Three to four times a year, plowing is carried out with decavaillonnage on a part of the vines.
The entire production is harvested by hand and completely scraped.
Its entire range of wines is made with the desire to express the greatest maturity of the fruit. And in this Gilles Chabbert can count on the advice of the oenologist Eugène Sanchez, with whom he works since the beginning.
"In each bottle you will find the spirit of our region, we invite you to be surprised by this spirit and join us to enjoy its content." - Gilles Chabbert
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