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About the Wine
Elegant, nimble Syrah, raised in amphora and showing that elevated, diffused perfume that often comes hand in hand with this vessel. Again, striking a characteristic balance of light and shade, here we have some appealing density of fruit, all salty black olive tapenade and charry bramble fruits, offset by lifted floral aromatics and a weightless body that defies this complexity.
Silky, with a fine granular texture, there is much to unpack as the wine passes through to the finish. Coffee grounds, tobacco, bitter chocolate, blackcurrant, all whilst remaining sprightly and fresh. A wide open wine of pristine fruit, and sanguine, mineral tones that makes for a unique expression of the grape.
From 20 year-old vines planted over sandy limestone and clay, the grapes were de-stemmed, crushed and on the skins for 15 days in amphora before being pressed off and put back into the same vessels for one year. The wine was then bottled with no additions at any stage.
About Le Chai Volant
Born in Morocco, now residing in the tranquil isolation of the mountainous Pyrénées-Orientales, Fatim initially trained as a herbalist before fulfilling her long-term goal of making wine. After a lot of searching she was able to acquire her own ‘Mas’ – an old remote farm - that comprised 3.5 hectares of vines aged between 20 and 80 years of age and a place to live, in the Aspres region at the foothills of the Canigou mountain range.
Sitting in the valley floor, the vines sit in complete seclusion and were tended to by a grower practising organic farming before her who wanted to ensure that the land fell into the right hands before retiring. Using her previous training, Fatim works in the vineyard with her own brand of biodynamics, using homemade fermented plant extracts from the diverse flora of the hillsides. The arid soils are treated with copper only when absolutely necessary.