portfolio
Vintages & Age Statements for 2007
Domaine du Dernier Bastion Maury Rancio 2007
France ➜ Roussillon ➜ Maury AOP 15.5% ABV
15.5% ABV • Fortified, Oxidative
Produced only in exceptional vintages, the Domaine du Dernier Bastion Maury Rancio is pure Grenache noir, selected from the estate’s oldest vines. Fermented in a 200-year-old concrete tank, the wine was aged in a 1,000-liter tonneau for nine years, then placed on the rooftop under glass and exposed to the elements for a final year prior to bottling. The resulting wine exhibits warming complexity and reverberative depth, its mellow rancio character embroidered on flavors of spiced cherry, caramelized orange, fruit cake, fig, walnut, coffee and cocoa. Full details
Domaine Fontanel Rancio Sec 2007
France ➜ Roussillon ➜ Côtes Catalanes IGP 17.0% ABV
17.0% ABV • Fully Oxidized, Oxidative
This is a rare example of what is one of the oldest forms of winemaking, once found throughout the Mediterranean and now preserved by Catalan tradition on both sides of the French-Spanish border. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with native yeasts, without fortification. The youngest vines informing this wine date from 1946; the oldest from 1908. Exposed to the elements and aged for many years in partially filled oak barrels, the resulting wine has what the Roussillon locals call le goût de soleil, the taste of the sun: dry and concentrated, with complex rancio flavors of walnuts, cocoa and curry spices. This wine slumbered in barrels until May 2018. Full details
H&H Verdelho Single Harvest ‘Q.G.’ Madeira 2007
Portugal ➜ Madeira DOC 20.0% ABV
20.0% ABV • Fortified, Fully Oxidized, Oxidative
The H&H Verdelho Single Harvest 2007 is a colheita bottling: an early-bottled vintage wine. This is unique among Madeira wines: a single-vineyard wine produced exclusively with estate fruit. The wine was aged for 12 years in ancient casks at the H&H cellars at Câmara de Lobos. It combines a vineyard signature of shimmering acidity and hints of eucalyptus with the depth of concentration and elegance for which H&H is renowned. One of the four “classic” Madeira varieties, Verdelho is meio seco—medium-dry—and highly versatile at the table. Full details
Domaine de Rombeau Rivesaltes Rancio 2007
France ➜ Roussillon ➜ Rivesaltes AOP 18.5% ABV
18.5% ABV • Fully Oxidized, Oxidative
A smoldering wine of great intensity and persistence, the 2007 Rivesaltes Rancio is marked by notes of torched Seville orange, walnut, chestnut honey and garam masala. Grenache blanc, Grenache gris and Macabeu were co-fermented in tank with native yeasts, then aged up in the rafters for more than a decade in old barrique, without temperature control and with minimal ‘topping up’. Bottled after thirteen years in mid-2022, it can be enjoyed on its own, with a variety of cheeses, with roasted nuts, and desserts including crème brûlée and apple pie. Shelf-stable, it should be served lightly chilled or at cellar temperature. Full details