CASTELMAURE CORBIÈRES 2022

Embres-et-Castelmaure is a tiny village in Corbieres, with around 150 residents, all of whom are families of vignerons. Their co-operative Cave de Castelmaure was founded in the 1920s, and today consists of 65 members making wine from grapes hand-picked from 760 local plots totalling 350 hectares. 90% of Castelmaure's production is red, with 80% of this classified AOC Corbieres, made from grape varieties such as grenache noir, syrah, carignan, and mourvedre.

Surrounded by mountains and adjoining the vineyards of Fitou, this wild, windswept terrain has a variety of soils from schist, limestone, alluvial river wash to clay-chalk. The cave co-operative is modern, innovative and extremely well run producing excellent and award winning wines.

Winery notes
"Here on the limestone and schist slopes of the Corbières mountains, cool winds temper the power of the sun. That's why the wine is so well balanced, combining terrific fruitness with a vigour worthy of the great vintages. On this very special terroir, the Syrah, Grenache and Carignan vines, picked by hand, dig deep into the rocky land. This terroir conceives rich, mouthwatering wines which owe more to the natural aromas of the garrigue than to oenological pretensions. This great wine is redolent of red fruits and spice, it's very open and creamy, delightfully long."

Jamie Goode
"Lots of personality, some elegance, and a haunting perfume – and at a good price, too. It’s from a co-op working in partnership with Jean Jean, and it just works. Ripe and beautifully framed, with a floral, meaty cherry and plum fruit nose that is fine and expressive. The palate shows sweet cherry and berry fruit but also a nice savoury character that is peppery with some olive notes, and some grippy tannin on the finish. Beautifully judged."