Gérard Bertrand Clos d'Ora la Livinière Minervois 2017

Description

Clos d'Ora, the Latin ora-ae for word, prayer, contained between the Alpha and the Omega, is the symbolic beginning and end of all things. It is the essence of Gérard Bertrand and a two-decade-long dream to capture the unique terroir (and spiritual experience Bertrand first felt on the property in 1997). Our first visit to the nine-hectare stone-walled vineyard was magical, beginning with the intense smell of garrigue that washed down the vineyard as we walked the slope. The old vine carignan and grenache, beside which Bertrand planted syrah and mourvèdre, are farmed biodynamically at 220 metres above sea level. A mule is used to cultivate its chalk, sandstone, and marl soils gently. The grapes are harvested and macerated separately in concrete before spending a year in French oak. A dense, concentrated wine abounds with youthful energy and enthusiasm, still tightly wound yet revealing a glimpse of the future. Cherry, wild herbs, leather, and sweet black plum fill the aromas. The attack is lush with velvety tannins and peppery, savoury black fruit, fresh fig, licorice and smoky tobacco. It has the balance to be drunk now, but really, it needs three to five more years to reach its tasting plateau, and it will last long after that. Score - 93. (Anthony Gismondi, gismondionwine.com, Feb. 17, 2020)

Tags

Carignan/Grenache/Syrah, Full-bodied & Smooth, Red Wine, Wine, XD - Extra Dry