Syrah VdF, Domaine des Miquettes 2018

Paul Estève comes from the Saint Joseph region. He and Chrystelle were both seasonal vineyard workers and created their 4.5 hectare wine estate in 2003 by buying the vines from their boss when he took retirement. One day they saw a television documentary on the traditional Georgian way of making wines in buried amphorae- called ‘Qvevri’. This fascinated them so much that they decided to go and visit the country, where they learnt the Georgian technique of wine-making with ‘Qvevri’, as well as all the relevant procedures and skills from the Georgian people that they met. They named one of their Saint Joseph wines ‘Madloba’, which means ‘thank you in Georgian, and it is their way of thanking the Georgian people for everything that they have done to help them.

Due to the altitude of their vineyard, their wines always display a good level of acidity and freshness. The Syrah has black fruit notes of blackberry and cherry. The nose is very aromatic with aromas of eucalyptus.

Producer  Domaine des Miquettes

Origin Cheminas, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, Rhone Valley, France

Grapes Syrah

Vintage 2018

Alcohol  11.5% ABV

Style Medium body red

Bottle size 750ml 

Winemaking Manual harvest,  10-15 days of wild yeast fermentation in tinajas from Spain, without temperature control. Two manual punching-downs of the cap during the fermentation, true to the traditional way of Qvevri wine-making.
 The tinaja was then completely closed, leaving the wine on the grape skins and pips and stems & left macerating like that for six months. Wine was then removed using a small, simple manual pump, and the must that was left at the bottom of the amphora was pressed. Then transferred into another different, clean amphora for its twelve months of ageing. Undergoes full malolactic. No filtration and no fining.  Absolutely no sulphur whatsoever was added to this wine.

Notes Natural, Organic, Biodynamic