La Vallière 2020 | Mas Des Agrunelles

La Cousteyrasse terroir, is a silty-clay soil, with northern exposure. The Cinsault plot devoted to « Les Mauves » production was double-grafted with Viognier, but only half of the grafts were successful.

Now, it is a Cinsault/Viognier complantation.

The plots of whites benefit from a north-eastern exposure. Harvesting the entire plot by hand requires a long period of time and can only take place in the early morning. Stephanie and Frederic partly harvest the plot the day before pressing and place freshly cut grapes in a cold room until the next morning. It only takes 2 to 3 hours to have the other rows done and go through pressing, as grapes temperature rarely exceeds 10°C.

Must is only partially racked so it is not too stripped. Natural yeast allows fermentation in terra cotta pots for three week up to a month at a 18°C temperature. Malolactic fermentation is not interrupted by sulphite or sterile filtration to stay true to the terroir.

Bottling is done a little before spring with a very low dose of sulfur (2g per hectolitre).