Description
White 2020 Principauté d’Orange
A vineyard we entirely planted ourselves on the limestone soils of Saint Martin.
40% Viognier – 20% Marsanne – 30% Picpoul – 4% Clairette – 3% Ugni blanc – 3% Bourboulenc
Fermentation: 25% in demi-muids, 50% in small casks and 25% in tanks.
Ageing on the lees
Our first bottling of white Deux Albion dates back to 2016. So we are starting to get some hindsight. The
wine evidently ages very well, which is both a joy and a comfort to us. Wines are like humans – they can
progress or regress as they age, and until you witness the change, you never really know which way it will
go! As a reminder, the techniques used to make this wine are akin to those of a ‘grand cru’: the grapes are
picked by hand in crates followed by slow, Champagne-style pressing then fermentation in small barrels.
When you want to produce good wine, no effort must be spared to maximise your chances of achieving it.
That is what we try to do with this wine which most certainly epitomises two of our beliefs at Saint Cosme –
a love of limestone and the relevance of massal selections. Saint Martin is home to the region’s most
limestone soils, making it the perfect place to grow white grape varieties. We planted our own massal
selections here using canes from Le Poste, Condrieu, Hermitage and Aveyron for the Saint Côme varietal,
which has all but disappeared.
Fresh aromas of white peach, mango and rose integrated with a balanced, saline palate. Notes of flint, dried apricot, marshmallow, violet and mint.
