Terroir Daronton, AOC Côtes du Rhône, Rouge, 2018

Bringing together 388 artisan winegrowers family in the heart of the Dentelles de Montmirail, Rhonéa produces a wine from one of the richest winegrowing terroirs in the Rhone, called Daronton, the name of the family who first planted the vineyard three generations ago. Formed by ice volcanoes 60 million years ago, the Dentelles de Montmirail comprise a patchwork of evaporate, blue clay, and limestone that give the wines a powerful, elegant, and deep flavour profile. The layers of sediment found several kilometres down rise to the surface here to form a terroir unlike any other in the world.

The terroirs that produce our Côtes-du-Rhône consist mainly of limestone soil with clay subsoil, which accounts for the wine’s rich character.

Short cold pre-fermentation maceration locks in fresh fruit aromas. Fermentation takes place at 25°C and is conducted in such a way as to enhance this intrinsic fruitiness. Pumping over is done twice a day, and can alternate with rack and return. The wine is aged in concrete vats with regular racking until bottling in spring.