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About the wine
Dark fruited Merlot from 50-year-old vines situated some 500m above sea level (some of the highest vines in the Ardèche) on the edge of the wild and mountainous Cevennes forest.
Sota Mon Soleu (Under my Sun) is a beautifully pure expression of Merlot which balances lush ripe fruit with just a touch of spice against silky tannins and fresh streak of acidity. The 2023 vintage was warm, much like 2022 but with more rain just before harvest, providing some much-needed balance to the wines. As Laurent says 'it's a bottle of sunshine!'. Fantastic value to be found here.
About Mas de l’Escarida
Laurent Fell’s vineyards sit 500m above sea level and this isolation is perfect for organic viticulture, surrounded by nature, the wild Cevennes forest. The elevation also brings freshness to the wines, the cool nights preventing the wines from getting to jammy, in an increasingly hot climate. The soil is sandstone formed in the Triassic period coming from the degradation of granite that was recompressed by pressure when the sea settled in this time. There are large quartz pebbles, shale and flint from the glacial scree.
Laurent's facility is simple, but purpose built for the way he wants to make wine. There is a platform behind the winery on which sits a basket press, when he presses the fruit, it runs by gravity down to the tanks where the wine has it's élevage.
He is meticulous in his work, a renowned viticulturist his fruit is pristine and cellar incredibly clean. Perhaps this is why his wines are too, despite him eschewing the use of sulfites, fining or filtering. The wines are about fruit and freshness, he wants to translate the youthful fruit of that vintage to the bottle and to that end élevage. tends to be relatively short to preserve that freshness.
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