2019 The Bee-Side
- Retail
- £19.50
- Member
- £15.60
- Case
- £117.00
- Case (Member)
- £93.60
- Varieties
- Grenache
- Vintage
- 2019
- Country
- France
- Region
- Roussillon
- Alcohol
- 14.5%
- Bottle size
- 750 mL
Awards
- Title
- Gold
- Year
- 2021
- Event
- The Global Masters - Grenache from The Drinks Business
- Description
The Bee-Side is our second label wine, made from 100% Grenache. – most of the grapes come from our Bac de Genievres and Coume de Roy vineyards, and The Bee-side also includes some fruit from some of Jean-Marc Lafage’s vines. The result is a wine with a harmonious blend of delicate yet expressive red fruits with hints of fennel and rosemary.
- Eyes
A bright yet delicate red
- Nose
Gentle, herbal, fragrant red fruit - wild strawberry and griotte cherries.
- Mouth
Deliciously drinkable and juicy - a joyous young Grenache with a riot of succulent, pithy cherry fruit and a savoury freshness that immediately calls for another glass.
- Body
medium
- Winemaking Notes
Our grapes were hand harvested, and then hand-sorted at the winery but the crop was healthy, and very little selection was needed. Our Grenache was emptied into upturned demi-muids (500L barrels) with the ends taken out. Some of the barrels picked after the rain were 'bled' to remove a small amount of juice, which was amalgamated to create one barrel of a very pale red. Around 50% of the barrels were fermented with 'whole bunches', and the rest were destemmed. The barrels were gently macerated in the cool of a refrigerated container, before being warmed up, inoculated with yeast, and gently punched down 2-3 times a day. After pressing the wine was drained into 500 L barrels, 2-4 years old, and aged for 15 months. We blended three of these barrels with the barrel of 'pale red' and a little bit of saignée juice from the 2020 vintage to produce this year's Bee-side.
- Growing Conditions
After a very dry, but not especially cold winter, spring began early, and was extremely dry, until flowering season, which was damp and warm. The temperature soared in June, with a late June day topping out at 42 degrees, the rest of the summer was ideal - warm temperatures, an occasional rain to keep the vines healthy. This year harvest season was marked by two or three significant rainfall events, which made choosing the picking date a little complicated, but early October was dry, and we picked between the 3rd and 11th in good conditions.
- Food Pairing
Just delicious with saussices catalan or robust pasta dishes. Or anything really.
Reviews
Tamlyn Currin
JancisRobinson.com - Professional
jancisrobinson.com
May 25, 2021 9:00This is so, so, so Grenache! If I were to sit someone down and teach them about the Grenache grape, this is the wine I would put in front of them. Not because it’s textbook, or benchmark (it’s both), but because it is beautiful, beautiful Grenache. This shines a glorious light on just how gorgeous this variety can be. If I could describe this wine in metaphor, it would be Harley Davidson; tight motorbike leathers; wind in your face; Bonnie Tyler belting out ‘Holding out for a hero’; curled up on a couch watching an epic movie; home-made strawberry jam on toast. NB I carried on tasting this wine for two weeks after I opened it. It got more and more delicious. Worth every penny. (TC)
17
Comments
Great review from RB - near Dijon: Gorgeous clean fruit, expressive nose (raspberry, cranberry, wild strawberry, a touch of blood orange), similar flavours in the mouth with a little bit of spice (white pepper) and some delicate herby-like character (fennel, rosemary), super smash-quaff-gluggable in the best of ways, very fluid in the mouth, medium-bodied, elegant, and extremely moreish. A grenache masquerading as a Pinot, I'd say. A treacherous wine! Where is the alcohol?!!! 😉
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