Domaine of the Bee 2023
- Retail
- £28.75
- Member
- £23.00
- Case
- £172.50
- Case (Member)
- £138.00
- Varieties
- Carignan, Grenache Noir
- Vintage
- 2023
- Country
- France
- Region
- Roussillon
- Alcohol
- 14.5%
- Bottle Size
- 750ml
- Drinking Window
- 2025 - 2040
- Description
Our Flagship red is made from our best barrels of Grenache and Carignan, and we have just re-adopted the Cotes du Roussillon Villages appellation (having been classified as Maury Sec and Cotes Catalanes in the past). The vineyards are the same three blocks we have owned since 2006, the grapes taste the same, but this time the blend is slightly Carignan dominated, with 58%, and the remaining 42% Grenache.
2023 is an especially concentrated and rich vintage with great capacity to age.
- Eyes
- The year's wine is a dark rich velvety red - reflecting the ripe vintage, and small bunches.
- Nose
- Very dense and mouthwatering on the nose, with lush dark fruit - plum skins, ripe figs and and spiced fruit compote. Very inviting.
- Mouth
- Deliciously rich and smooth, the mouth is filled with compote of ripe figs, spiced plums and kirsch, with a suggestion of liqueur chocolate - yet the palate is bright and fresh, with delightfully cleansing pithy tannins, and a hint of garrigue herbs.
- Body
- full
- Winemaking notes
- All our grapes for Domaine of the Bee were hand harvested, and tipped directly into open 500L Demi-Muid with one end taken out. In 2023, some of the barrels were fermented with 'whole bunches' and for the others, 50% of the stems were returned to the barrels after de-stemming. Following a brief cold-maceration the grapes were allowed to warm up naturally and were them inoculated with yeast, and gently punched down 2-3 times a day. After pressing, all of the wine was drained into a mixture of 500L and 225L barrels, approximately a third of which are new, and left to mature for 16 months.
- Growing Conditions
- After a second dry summer, with a dry winter in between, the lack of water in the region is turning into a crisis, and the vines struggled to flower and ripen a normal sized crop. The heat, and shortage of water resulted in a lower yield of smaller-sized grapes, with plenty of ripeness and flavour.