DOMAINE DE CEBENE À LA VENVOLE FAUGERES 2020
Brigitte Chevalier of Domaine de Cébène makes truly superb wine by any measure, hand-made, terroir-dictated wine that has been getting better and better now that she has her own custom-built cellar dug out of an isolated hill, rather than having to make wine in cramped rented space in a nearby village. Brigitte is one of the stars of Faugères, one of the Languedoc’s most distinctive appellations in the hills above Béziers.
"The second vintage of this cuvée designed to showcase the elegance of Faugères but meant for earlier drinking. From the vines around the cave. Grenache, a bit of Syrah and some Carignan, young and old. À la Venvole is an old French expression meaning à l’improviste or unexpectedly. Certified organic. Brigitte Chevalier describes this as un vin de bistronomie.
"Bright, pale crimson. Chock-full of sweet, youthful fruit. Beautifully juicy, unavoidably swallowable. Tannins are hardly there until the very end, but the schist of Faugères is. You'd want to drink this with food but you'd have difficulty resisting getting to the bottom of the bottle. Drink 2021 - 2025."
17/20 points.
(Jancis Robinson, JR Purple Pages, September 2021)
