Abbotts & Delaunay, Domaine de La Métairie d'Alon, Rosé de Pinot Noir "Les Graves" Sélection Parcellaire, IGP Pays d'Oc, Rosé, 2024
Presentation
The Domaine de la Métairie d’Alon is a 25-hectare vineyard planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, located in a mountainous area around the village of Magrie, between Limoux and Roquetaillade, in the Upper Aude Valley. Managed organically on an exceptional terroir, it allows the Delaunay family to express the best of their Burgundian sensitivity and expertise in producing great Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in Languedoc. The "Parcel Selections" are wines from our best plots that reflect the intrinsic character of their terroir.
Terroir
This wine is named after its plot, "Les Graves", located at an altitude of 250m, in a cool corridor, on steep west-facing slopes. The vineyard, managed organically and following Burgundian methods, is planted in a clay-limestone soil, very rocky, which gives the wine its minerality. It is an ideal situation to produce a great Rosé of Pinot Noir, mineral, elegant, and deep.
Winemaking
The grapes are harvested by hand into ventilated crates. Upon arrival at the winery, whole bunches are immediately pressed in a small pneumatic press. The first and final juice fractions—coarser in character—are discarded, retaining only the heart of the press, obtained under low pressure. A 24-hour cold settling without sulphur precedes a four-day pre-fermentation maceration, which enhances complexity and finesse. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks to preserve freshness. The wine is then briefly aged in a combination of stainless steel and amphora. Bottling is scheduled for February 2025.
Specifications
Tasting
A beautiful, brilliant pink colour with bluish highlights. The nose is expressive and refined, opening with red fruits and citrus (blood orange, mandarin), lifted by a touch of white pepper and delicate floral notes of orange blossom and rose petal. On the palate, the attack is round and fresh, driven by mandarin and tangy red fruits such as redcurrant. The wine's minerality then asserts itself with purity, evoking chalk and white pebbles. The finish is long and elegant, revealing subtle nuances of pink grapefruit and white flowers. This rosé is a refined, high-altitude Pinot Noir of great finesse and purity.
Food pairings
Serve at 10°C. Ideal with Mediterranean mezze as an apéritif, roasted spring vegetables, saffron prawns, sea bream ceviche, duck with mild spices, or delicately spiced Asian cuisine.
Reviews
- Silver
International Wine Challenge 2025 Silver
