SKU:
"Only 1200 bottles produced"
A sparkling robe of warm, transparent ruby. Its first nose bursting with cooked exotic fruit and citrus notes delicately evolves towards aromas of roasted cocoa beans. An initially peppery, spicy palate opens up to flavours of very ripe black fruit. The finish evokes hints of rhubarb jam.
Story:The “Retour des Indes” casks set sail from Douarnenez in Brittany then, after travelling down along the Spanish coast, they made a first stop off at Lisbon in Portugal. They continued along their way as far as Cape Verde and set off to take the Atlantic Ocean by storm. After a short stopover at Bélem in Brazil, they sailed back up to the Caribbean with a stop at Barbados and in the Dominican Republic. They left the warm waters to head for the Azores and then Falmouth in the United Kingdom. The journey could have ended there but, keen to explore the world, the wines sailed back up the North Sea as far as Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Having had their fill of sea air and gorgeous landscapes they finally returned to Douarnenez. A year later “Retour des Îles” is available for the Christmas holidays.
Owned by the Amoreau family since 1610, Château Le Puy overlooks the Dordogne valley on the same geological plateau as Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, once called the ‘Plateau of Wonders’. The Château was originally built at the beginning of the 17th century and later extended in 1832 by Barthélémy Amoreau.
There are 35 hectares of vines spread over three plots with soils made of clay, limestone and silica. It’s quite common to find some sharpened flints between the vines as some parts used to be battlefields in medieval times. The soil type varies but is principally a mix of clay, silex and limestone, with very high acidity levels.
The average age of the vines is 50 years and no synthetic treatments have ever been used at the estate, which is certified biodynamic. Harvest is manual, the grapes are entirely destemmed and the cuvaison is long, continuing for two to four weeks. The “elevage” of the Le Puy wines is done according to the lunar rhythm. The wines are neither fine nor filtered before bottling. Jean-Pierre Amoreau and his son, Pascal, oversee the vineyards and vinification.
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