The Patricia Estate
The company Aragón y Cía. was founded in 1946, but the winery itself has been in operation since at least 1877. A prize awarded at the Córdoba wine exhibition of that year documents that the winery was producing wine at that date, and it's more than likely that the installations were in operation well before 1877. Situated in Lucena in the province of Córdoba, the Aragón cellars hold some 2,500 "botas" (500 liter oak barrels) using the "solera" system to convert fresh white wine from Pedro Ximénez grapes into the typical "finos", "amontillados" and "olorosos" of Montilla-Moriles.
The Patricia Vineyards
As is the case with most Montilla-Moriles producers, Aragón is an ageing cellar and does not own vineyards. The vineyards of the region are mainly Pedro Ximénez (PX) grapes (over 80%). The region's dry hot climate allows the naturally high sugar PX grapes to attain up to 17º alcohol potential. This means the wines produced here do not generally require the addition of alcohol (fortification), which is necessary for sherries. Aragón's expert tasters carefully select fresh, recently fermented PX wines, which are then transferred to the cellars for long periods of "solera" ageing.
Montilla-Moriles in the province of Cordoba, in Andalucía. The D.O spreads over 10,200 hectares (25,194 acres) of vines planted on limestone soils, at 300-600 meters above seal level.
Kysela Pere et Fils, LTD imports three styles of their Patricia sherry: Fino, Amontillado and Cream (the Cream is more like a P.X. Reserve).
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Clos Saint-Jean is a 41-hectare estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape run by brothers Vincent and Pascal Maurel. Considered by many critics and wine-writers as the preeminent estate espousing the modern style of winemaking in Châteauneuf, this cellar is one of the oldest in the region, having been founded in 1900 by the greatgreat-grandfather of Vincent and Pascal, Edmund Tacussel. A short time after its founding and well before the AOP of Chateauneuf-du-Pape was created in 1923, Edmund began bottling estate wines in 1910.
The farming at Clos Saint-Jean is fully sustainable due to the warm and dry climate, which prevents the need for chemical inputs. Instead, Vincent and Pascal employ organic methods for pest control, mainly pheromones, to prevent pests from taking up residence in their vines, a process called amusingly enough in French, confusion sexuelle. The vines tended manually, and harvest is conducted in several passes entirely by hand.
Combe des Fous literally means, the hill of the fool. The hill, in this case, is located in the far southern reach of Le Crau which was left barren for many centuries because the layer of galets was so exceedingly deep that everyone assumed vines could never survive there. The fool in this situation is Edmund Tacussel, the great-great-grandfather of Vincent and Pascal Maruel who planted a Grenache vineyard on this site in 1905. That old-vine Grenache form the heart of this cuvée with a small amount of Syrah, Cinsault and Vaccarèse. La Combe des Fous is only made in the best vintages.
Review:
Pumps out heady raspberry, mulberry and blackberry compote notes that keep form and direction, thanks to a roasted apple wood spine and flanking ganache, garrigue and warm earth notes. Seriously grippy finish. Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault and Vaccarèse.
-Wine Spectator 96 Points
The 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape La Combe Des Fous is a normal blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and the rest Vaccarèse and Cinsault. Beautiful, full-bodied aromas and flavors of ripe black raspberries, violets, ground pepper, lavender, and herbes de Provence all emerge from this gorgeous barrel sample, and it shows the pure, fresh, yet still concentrated style of the vintage brilliantly.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94-97 Points
Corinne Perchaud Chablis Premier Cru Vaucoupin is 100 percent Chardonnay.
The vineyard The plots are on the Vaucoupin Chichée village. They are very steep and facing south, their average age is 40 years. The total area is 1.45 hectares. The vines are planted on soil Kimmeridgian marl consisting clay and limestone with dominant clay. Winemaking After a slight settling, the juice is put in to achieve its fermentation tank alcoholic and malolactic. It follows a long aging on lees to bring a maximum of complexity of aromas and flavors. If necessary, we make a collage to bentonite to remove proteins and a passing cold which eliminates tartar crystals. Then we perform a tangential filtration is the filtration method most friendly to wine.
The wine will be bottled 16 months after harvest. The relatively high temperatures at the end of winter allowed an early bud vines in early March. With a hot, dry spring flower took place in good conditions. In July, a hailstorm located did some damage to our Fourchaume plot. July and early August, rainy and stormy brought the water needed for the vineyards. The dry and sunny weather of the second half of August brought the grapes to maturity. The harvest began on September 2 under clement skies.
Pairs well with seafood, shellfish.