Château Maris Vielles Vignes Syrah 2001

vins: MARIS Vieilles vignes syrah
mill: 2001, cru livinière

Assemblages: 100% syrah
vinification: traditinnelle en cuve bois de 50 hl
Elevage: 16 mois en futs
futs: 100% futs neuf
malolactique: 100%
Collage: non
Filtration: non filtré
% vol acool: 15.00%
pH: 3.8
acidité totale g/l H2SO4: 3.31
Acidité volatil g/l H2SO4: 0.65
sucres residuel: <2 g/h

All our wines are from the Languedoc region in southern France . We started out making wines in 1997. Our objective is to cultivate our vineyards with absolute respect for the environment so that our wines may express as naturally as possible their origin. We seek to preserve our local eco systems in as natural as state as possible, researching ways of allowing our vines to establish natural defences against their different predators. We feed our vines compost, made on each of our farms according to the Biodynamic principles, to ensure our soil is nurtured with live matter. The centuries of grape cultivation in this area has inspired us to believe that we can grow the fruit to make the great wines of today.

Zachys:

"Château Maris is a small property situated in the South of France between the Mediteranean sea and the Black Mountains, not far from the Canal du Midi.

This old vine cuvee really does come from old vines! It is a one hectare parcel growing at 300 metres in altitude with vines that are now 84 years old. The real beauty is that the man who planted it when he was 12 years old looked after it for 55 years of his life and the next owner, his son, took equally good care of this prime piece of land. We take a 30hectoliter per hectare yield,(about 3,400 bottles), from it today without causing the vines much stress. It is farmed completely naturally with no chemicals being added and its fertilizer is compost made from cow manure to the tune of about 1 ton per hectare every two years.

The gapes are hand picked when at maximum maturity and then de stemmed into a large wooden tank for fermenting. After the first fermentation has finished we let the wine rest in oak barrels for about 12 months before being bottled without any kind of fining or filtration.

The wine gives off a spicy deep rich bouquet which evolves well in the glass. There are sweet black cherry flavours on the palate which leads into a satisfyingly smooth voluptuous finish. The wine can be drunk now and for another 5 years."

robert@comtecathare.com

Chateau Maris - 34210 La Livinière
telephone 00 33.(0)4 68 91 42 63 - fax 00 33.(0)4 68 91 62 15