2015 | Chêne Bleu | Abelard

Supple and refined, with steeped black cherry and smoked plum liberally dusted with pepper. Smoky and brooding, showing a cool menthol note and tomato leaf herbaceous character. Bottle age has contributed to this wine's harmony and gracious earthy, potpourri character.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Tasted from tank prior to its July bottling, the 2015 IGP Vaucluse Abelard (Grenache and Syrah) looks as if it will rival the 2010. Wreaths of smoke encircle lovely cherry-berry fruit in this full-bodied, richly concentrated and long-finishing wine.

• James Suckling: A complex nose of dark berries, bark, black olives, dried herbs, black earth, mushrooms and white pepper. It’s full-bodied with fine, firm tannins. Structured and slightly chewy with a spicy edge. Intense and balanced with a vibrant character and purity of fruit at the center. Grenache and syrah. Grainy finish.

Producer Information

Chêne Bleu is a range of red and white wines from the Vaucluse department near the border of the Rhône and Provence regions. They are are single-estate bottlings made largely outside the French appellation system, but based on classic Rhône grape varieties. The estate in question, Domaine de la Verrière, sits among the crags of the Dentelles di Montmirail in the foothills of Mont Ventoux, not far from Gigondas. The poperty lies in an area of convergence of various appellations. Rather than conform to a set of rules that apply to numerous estates with very different growing conditions, the emphasis with Chêne Bleu is to focus on what suits the vineyard. Accordingly front labels just mention, in small type, the location in "Crestet, Vaucluse, France". The name Chêne Blue means "Blue Oak" and derives from an old oak tree that succumbed to the droughts of 2005. The trunk and branches have been painted in Bordeaux Mixture by the artist Marco Nucero, giving the tree a blue-green color. There are around 30 hectares (75 acres) of vines. They are planted mainly with Grenache (25 or more years old) and Syrah (40-plus years old). There are smaller quantities of Mourvèdre, as well as the white grapes Rousanne, Marsanne, Viognier and Clairette. The vines lie at an altitude of 550m (1600ft), making it one of the higher vineyards in the South of France. This increases variations in day/night temperatures, which slow ripening to a degree, thus promoting grape quality. Harvests can take place up to three weeks after vineyards on the Rhône valley floor. The main downside to this is an increased exposure to bad autumnal wweather. The site gains more than 300 days of sunshine per year. Fruit ripens reliably and does not suffer from rot. Winds such as the Mistral contribute to flavor development, though the hilly terrain gives protection from weather extremes.

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