Chateau Saint-Roch Cotes du Roussillon Kerbuccio Maury Sec 2016
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Spirits
Wine & -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Wild flower notes mixed with melted chocolate, kirsch and a hint of Provencal garrigue. Full-bodied, rich, deep and totally dry, this red wine will be enjoyed over the coming 4-5 years.
Blend: 75% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Lovely kirsch nose with bags of ripe and authentic Maury fruit. The palate is round, fleshy and warm with a delicious richness of oak, vanilla flavour and intense and complex finish. Lovely wine that's beautifully balanced with great typicity. Full-bodied and very polished.
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Wine & Spirits
Vintner Jean- Marc Lafage farms nearly 400 acres spread between Perpignan and the Pyrenees. This comes from one of his warmest sites, a patch of 60-year-old vines in Maury’s black schist. The wine seems to have absorbed that blackness straight into its flavor, the berry notes deepening, with exposure to air, into suggestions of blood and charred meat. As dark as the wine is, it doesn’t feel heavy; rather, it feels as layered as one of Rothko’s color-field paintings, with a similar depth and dimensionality. With its ripe, smooth tannins, it’s approachable now, though it needs rich foods to stand up to it—like roast goose, or blood sausage and white beans.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another great vintage for the cuvée, the 2016 Maury Sec Kerbuccio (75% Grenache, 20% Carignan, and 5% Mourvèdre) is loaded with character and reveals a deep purple color as well as notes of black and blue fruits, new saddle leather, exotic herbs, and tobacco. Charming, medium to full-bodied, beautifully pure, and seamless on the palate, you can’t go wrong with this wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Kerbuccio is a super ripe, full-bodied explosion of black cherries, richly spiced and textured, with a near-endless, velvety finish. My only hesitation is that I thought I detected a hint of raisined fruit. If that comes to the fore, my rating may look generous. On the other hand, if the fruit hangs on to its freshness, I may seem conservative. In any event, I'd opt for drinking it over the next few years.
Rating: 92(?)
Other Vintages
2020-
Suckling
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Robert
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Robert
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Dunnuck
Jeb
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Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Recently purchased by Jean Marc Lafage, Chateau Saint Roch is located in the Maury Area of the Agly Valley, which is 15 miles from Perpignan and the Mediterranean Sea. The castle of Queribus, built by the Cantharis, at the top of the steep Corbières Mountain watches over the vineyards from the north. Each plot is now surrounded by black berry bushes, fig trees, pomegranate trees, cherry trees, carob trees, oaks, as well as fields of thyme, lavender and fennel.
The soil of the hills is made up of schiste clay with a limestone base and their altitudes vary between 120 to 370 meters. The wind, called here the "Tramontane", circulates in this corridor between Fenouillèdes and Corbières. The southern Catalan sun takes advantage of the refractive qualities of the schist from this ancient icy plateau to give St Roch its unique light.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
A northern point in France’s far southern Roussillon region, Maury is dominated by steep limestone cliffs and the castle of Queribus, which the French used as a defense outpost against the Spanish until 1659. Today it remains an important symbol of the presence of both cultures in the region.
Though Maury is famous for vins doux naturels (a style of fortified wine), Maury dry red wines are quickly becoming more in vogue and received their own appellation designation in 2011, called Maury Sec. As is the case in most of Roussillon, Grenache plays a key role here. The region’s schist-dominant vineyards, which climb up to 1,300 feet, are excellent for the production of Grenache of all styles.
For Maury dry red wines, Carignan, Mourvèdre and Syrah act as blending partners with Granche Noir. In the production of vins doux naturels, Grenache Gris and Blanc play a subsidiary role. The latter are characterized using the same terminology as that in Riveslates with those named as grenat or tuilé based on Grenache Noir and those described as ambré or blanc containing more Grenache Blanc and Grenache Gris.