2018 Domaine of the Bee
- Retail
- £26.50
- Member
- £21.20
- Case
- £159.00
- Case (Member)
- £127.20
- Varieties
- Grenache Noir
- Carignan
- Vintage
- 2018
- Country
- France
- Region
- Roussillon
- Alcohol
- 14.9%
- Bottle size
- 750 mL
- Drinking Window
- 2020 - 2030
- Description
Another excellent vintage - now four in a row, from 2015 to 2018 - with real ripeness and concentration - this is a classic Domaine of the Bee flagship red.
- Eyes
A deep rich red
- Nose
A big, booming nose of forest bramble fruit, roasted black plums, and a little vanilla and clove from 1/4 new oak barrels
- Mouth
Immediately charming and open, this wine has had a little longer in barrel then normal (thank you coronavirus), and has a slightly more rounded feel as a young wine, but it has the depth of fruit and freshness of tannin to continue to develop over the next few years. A rich, full-bodied red.
- Body
full
- Winemaking Notes
All are grapes for Domaine of the Bee were hand harvested, and then hand-sorted at the winery to ensure we only chose the healthiest and ripest grapes. The first Carignan to be picked is fermented in a stainless steel tank. The rest of the Carignan, and all of the Grenache is cold-macerated in upturned demi-muids (500L barrels) with the ends taken out, before being warmed up, 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 quarter of which are new, and left to mature for 18 months.
- Growing Conditions
After a cool start to the year, a heat spike in May ensured a good flowering, and then a long dry period in July, August and September meant that we harvested a good yield of lovely ripe grapes in early October, and our last block from the Coume de Roy picked a few days after the first rain, but just before the heavens opened on the 14th October.
- Food Pairing
Great with grilled red meat, hearty stews, barbequed food, and hard cheeses.
Reviews
Tamlyn Currin
JancisRobinson.com - Professional
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/tastings
July 30, 2020 8:00Thyme, violets , fresh figs. red-apple skin. Massive texture, like licking gnarly driftwood. Fresh-ground coffee, slightly tart Victoria plums, ripe tomatoes. Very closed. But after a few hours in a decanter, it really opens up. The red-apple peel on the nose follows right through onto the palate. Sun-dried tomoatoes. Crushed cadamom and cracked coriander seed and then this wonderful, smoky bite of chipotle chilli and piquant paprika. 16.5++
16.5
Rosemary Geoge MW
Taste Languedoc - Professional
https://tastelanguedoc.blogspot.com/2020/07/domaine-of-bee-their-latest-wines.html
July 17, 2020 5:00Medium colour. A youthful nose; lovely fruit with a hint of well-integrated oak. A rounded palate, with fruit and balancing tannin; good depth and weight, and plenty of ageing potential.
Tom Cannavan
Tom Cannavan's Wine Pages - Professional
https://wine-pages.com/tasting-articles/in-the-domaine-of-the-bee/
June 7, 2021 13:10Dense, deep crimson colour, the nose showing a little violet and Indian ink, vinous density. In the mouth the sweet punch of the fruit is delicious, a combination of red and black fruits, plenty of spices here, clove and black pepper, and the weighty, rounded mouthfeel balanced by creamier tannins than in the Carignan, and very good acidity, giving this both svelteness and freshness into a long, powerful finish.
93
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