Domaine Gauby's Vieilles Vignes Rouge is drawn from the estate's older plantings of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah on marl and schist soils in the hills above Calce in Roussillon. Old vines here yield very little, and the wine carries a depth and density that the younger vine cuvées do not attempt.
The family farms around forty five hectares of high vineyards in the French Catalan country, cooled by winds that spill down from the Pyrenees. Gérard Gauby led the shift to organic and biodynamic farming in this part of France, and the estate has planted trees and hedges across its land so the vines sit inside a working ecosystem. Winemaking is patient and low intervention, with indigenous yeasts and gentle extraction.
Expect a red that is powerful without being heavy handed. Dark cherry, blackberry and dried plum are threaded with garrigue herbs, black olive, liquorice and crushed stone, and the finish is long, cool and mineral with fine tannins. It is drinking well now with a decant and will keep developing for a decade or more.
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