2007 Alary, Domaine Oratoire St. Martin

Reserve des Seigneurs

$19.99 bottle (10% off this weekend only makes it $17.99!)

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Don't miss it. This wine is featured now in a reassuringly large pile by our front register, but supplies will dwindle. Why?...

The Estate... The Oratoire St. Martin in the town of Cairanne in the southern Rhone Valley models how I want my wine to be made. Frederic and Francois Alary are the current (10th) generation of their family to tend vines in a town whose best wines rival bottles from the very top communes in the southern Rhone. They farm organically, and are seeking certification for that enlightened labor. The Alary family make unfiltered reds that accurately express the character of their homeland, wines based on the great grapes of the Rhone valley: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. These grapes are grown in the rocky blue clay and limestone-laced soils of their 25-hectare estate. Large amounts of old vines exist on the property- in places the vines are over a century old. Replanting is en massale, a technique that maintains genetic variety in the Oratoire's fields. En Massale means from a crowd, and refers to the selection of cuttings for replanting from the area's existing vines, as opposed to importing clonally identical new plants to accomplish this task. All fruit is harvested by hand and sorted rigorously to remove damaged or under-ripe berries. Fermentation is in large old oak foudre, big, generally old oak barrels. Barrels you could stand up inside, and stretch your arms out without necessarily touching the sides.