High winds in May during flowering limited the yield somewhat, but a hot and largely dry June and July gave way to a cooler, damper August. We were a little worried by the humid sea breezes at the end of August, but the Tramontane kicked in in September, and we had a wonderful, warm, dry month.

Huge, powerful nose of cassis and blackberry, with a hint of earthy woodland, and a note of sweet vanilla.

This is a big wine - 15.5% alcohol makes for an enormously lush, super-saturated mouthful. Impressive power and extremely long.

Black.....

Wild boar sausages or Venison would be ideal, but any dark, gamey meat would be a marvellous match.

After 15 months in a 225 litre barrique, we decided it would be a terrible shame to blend this barrel, and so we decided to bottle it separately, for only a very few to enjoy....

A few rainstorms at the end of Sept caused us some concern, but we harvested a large and healthy crop in good conditions.

Bottled on the 7th April 2017