Domaine Pierre Usseglio Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge Cuvée de mon Aïeul 2019, Rhone Valley, France

Domaine Usseglio is a family farm, dating back to 1948 when grandfather, Francis Usseglio, left Italy to work in Châteauneuf-du-Pape as a wine worker. Today the Domaine covers 39 hectares, 24 hectares of red Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 1 hectare of white Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 6 hectares of red Lirac, 6 hectares of Côtes-du-Rhône and 2 hectares of Vin de France. Half of the vines are over 65 years old, the other half is in their forties. Yields: low. Harvest: Manual. Sorting: Selective. This wine is 100% Grenache. The name means: “Vintage of My Grandfather”. Winemaking: “We carry out a plot selection to elaborate this cuvée. Only vines aged 75 to 90 enter the final blend, they come from plots on La Crau, Bédines and Serres. We did not perform a destemming for this vintage and the vatting is followed by thermo regulation, it lasts from 30 to 40 days.” Ageing: The wines remain in concrete vats in order to obtain an expressive fruitiness. Tasting: The “Cuvée de mon Aïeul” is a pure and concentrated wine. The nose is very complex with notes of raspberries, licorice and spices. It is a powerful wine, of great elegance.