Domaine Vinci 'Roc'

Country: France

Region: Roussillon

Grapes: Carignon, Grenache Noir

Vintage: 2018

ABV: 12.5%

Olivier treats this cuvée as a second wine, but with the precise blend depending on the vintage.  There is always 50% Carignan, to which Grenache was added in 2012.  This has wonderful ripe fruit on both nose and palate.  It was really succulent with spicy fruit and supple tannins, and very ready to drink, even though it is still quite young.  The elevage is in vat rather than barrel. After harvesting by hand—only when the grapes have reached peak phenolic maturity—the fruit is brought to the small Vinci cellar, where natural yeasts carry out fermentation in neutral vessels before the wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered, with little to no added sulfur.