Thierry Mortet Rouge Charmes de Daix 2014

The village of Rully is situated in the Côte Châlonnaise North West of Chalon-sur-Saône. The parcel "La Chaume" is located South of the village.
The vineyards are facing South and located between 300 and 350 meters above sea level. Average age of the vines is 35 years. The vines are cultivated using integrated viticulture.
Plantating: 10,000 vines / hectare. Yield: 55 hectoliters / hectare.
A subsoil of clay and limestone is covered by a very stony top soil.

Golden yellow color with green highlights. The wine is a pure expression of the Côte Chalonnaise: minerality with chalky notes, freshness with a great acidity holding together the finish, elegance with orange blossom and hawthorn notes.

Traditional vinification. The grapes are pressed immediately upon arrival at the winery in pneumatic presses. The alcoholic fermentation is carried out in oak barrels, 20% new oak.
The wine is aged for 12 months in oak barrels with regular stirring to gain depth and complexity.

Marries perfectly with tender meat, freshwater fish, saltwater fish in white sauce, hot shellfish, poultry in a beautiful creamy sauce (eg stew) and frog legs. It can also be drunk as an aperitif. Hard cheeses: Comté, Beaufort, Emmental

Of a pale yellow color, the Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru "La Maltroie” offers a discreet nose of hawthorn flowers, fresh hazelnuts and vanilla notes. Full in mouth, this wine has aromas of candied lemon and some minerality on the finish.

Average age of the vines: 50 years old.

Traditional vinification in French oak barrels with complete malolactic fermentation.

Pairs with Shellfish, fish, goat cheese.

Ripe passion fruit and pineapple on the nose, and fresh minerality. Very rich on the palate, well balanced. Honey, tropical fruit flavors and a great finish. The wine is excellent.

Review:

Full straw-yellow. Very ripe stone fruits, white plum and pear on the nose. Thick, rich and lightly saline; quite full and horizontal in the mouth, offering a chewy texture. Decent lemony acidity and mineral support keep the fruit surprisingly fresh. A powerful wine in the style of the vintage but not dry or hot, finishing with very good lemony grip and length. This is sweeter, richer and fatter than Guillemot-Michel's 2014 bottling but it wears its alcohol gracefully, and the resounding lemony finish is hardly short on acidity.

-- Stephen Tanzer 90 Points

Mas des Capitelles Faugeres Vieilles Vignes  is made from 50% Mourvedre, 25% Carignan and 25% Syrah

Deep inky color in the glass. Aromas of raspberry, cherry and hints of vanilla round out the nose. Medium to full-bodied and very well structured with ripe chewy tannins. Flavors of peppery humus, cherry and hints of leather flow towards a lengthy & spicy finish.

Dark in the glass.  A powerful nose of blackberry evokes the garrigue and  spices aromas. Rounded with a silky texture. Ripe and extracted, with  soft vanilla nuances are carried by a good length. A good combination of power, elegance and finesse.

Alain Jaume Domaine du Clos de Sixte Lirac  is made from 50% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 15% Mourvedre

An intense red garnet color. On the nose, aromas of red and black ripe fruit (kirsch and wild blackberry). The mouth is full, with aromas of blackcurrant liqueur and spice. Tannins are both harmonious and elegant thanks to the fleshiness of the wine. Hints of licorice and vanilla on the finish, which gives the wine length and complexity.

Soil type LIRAC vineyard is facing Chateauneuf du Pape, opposite side of the Rhône river. As showed by the picture and following geologist George Truc, soils are almost similar in both side. They are marked by the violence wrought by the Rhone river. It consists of a layer of marine molasses of the Miocene period covered by alpine alluvium. The presence of a great number of rounded stones known as "galets" in the earth is evidence of the time when the Rhone, then a torrent, tore fragments of rock from the Alps and deposited them on the plain. LIRAC is one of the up-coming best area from the southern Rhône valley, as it delivers outstanding wines. Winemaking & ageing Traditional wine-making in stainless still vats. Hand sorted bunches, crushed and destemmed grapes. Fermentation temperature : 30°C. 18 days of vatting with pigeages.

Review:

"The 2015 Lirac Clos de Sixte comes from an appellation that shares a similar terroir with Chateauneuf du Pape, yet is located just across the river, on the western side of the Rhone. It’s a serious, large scaled, voluptuous effort that that has lots of ripe tannin, a bid mid-palate and copious amounts of blackberries, black cherries, scorched earth, licorice and roasted herbs. One of the bigger boned and concentrated reds in the lineup, it will have a decade of longevity. - Jeb Dunnuck"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue 227, October 28th 2016), 91-93 pts