2004 Chateau Fortia CUVEE de BARON Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge
Name:
Chateau Fortia CUVEE de BARON Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge - 2004
Where it's from:
>France
>Rhone
>Chateauneuf-du-Pape
Price per case:
£139.3
Bottle size:
75 cl
Bottles per case:
6
Style:
Powerful Reds
Grapes:
Syrah (Shiraz) / Grenache
Description:
The Domain Chateau Fortia, is one of the oldest of Chateauneuf du Pape. History has it that it used to be an outbuilding of the pontifical castle where the cardinals kept their stables.
The domaine took importance when Hercule de Fortia d'Urban took it over. The count of Ripert Monclar wrote in his essay entitled, The Life and Works Of The Marquis Of Fortia of Urban published in 1843 that it was a lovely little hermitage. The lands registry of 1763 offers further proof with the mention of a small farm belonging to the marquis of Fortia maintained on a share-cropping system.
However, this Chateau has another important role in history. During the early 20th Century Baron Pierre Leroy, through marriage, became the head of the estate. Due to the deteriorating quality of the Chateauneuf-Du-Pape wines in general, the Baron drew up a charter that became the basis for the AOC wine law system.
Today, the Chateau maintains the spirit of the AOC wine laws and after a manual harvesting and a compulsory sorting, ( 5% minimum but usually higher ), the grapes are transported in small crates in order to ensure their arrival at the cellar in the best of conditions.
The harvest is then destemmed and more or less crushed depending to the year; due to differences in maturity the grape-varieties are vinified separatly in 150hl concrete tanks equipped with a cooling system.
Vatting lasts 20 to 25 days depending on the year and then the wines are put in 20 to 40hl stock vats to go through a second fermentation (malo-lactic) and then racked. The various grape-varieties are assembled and put in stock vats for ageing between 12 to 18 months depending on the vintage.
The wines are then put in meshed metallic tanks where they are fined and filtered before bottling. Finally, they are stored for several months before release.
More concentrated Cuvee with less syrah and more grenache in the blend than the Chateau Fortia Red. This wine is showing great intensity of flavour and beautifully sustained through to the finish.
