Bottles produced: 11,000
Grapes: 100% Syrah
Yield: 31 hL/ha
Alcohol: 12.5%
Format: 750 ml
Drink from/to: 2020-2022
Price UK: £120
Price US: $150
The vintage: 2011 was a good solid year in the Northern Rhone, with yields up on 2010. Perfect spring conditions aided healthy and timely bud break before colder, wetter conditions persisted through the early summer. A dry August helped fruit set and produced a healthy crop with medium weight and strong fruit character.
The wine: Dedicated to Cave de Tain founder Louis Gambert de Loche this exceptional cuvée is made from parcels of fruit owned by the Cave, grown predominantly on granite and fluvio-glacial alluvial soils. Hand-picked fruit is fermented long and slow in oak vats before maturation in 225 litre French oak barrels, which regular racking. The wine is aged in total for 16 months before fining and bottling.
Decanter review/reaction (2010 vintage): Great intensity, with a hint of evolution and mature fruits. Lovely purity and velvet texture, very well balanced and precise. 93 points – Christian Honorez, Tanguy Martin, Matt Walls, October 2019
