Villa Noria Les Colombiers Pinot Noir, Pays d'Oc 2024
A youthful Pinot Noir showing great purity of fruit with blackberry and blackcurrant aromas leading to a smooth palate with silky tannins and a black cherry finish.
The Pinot Noir grapes come from the ‘Les Colombiers’ named plot which is located at the bottom of a volcanic hillside. This volcanic terroir has basaltic soils, which is formed from cooled, hardened, and weathered lava, which contains high proportions of iron imparting the wine with distinctive minerality. The Mediterranean climate, with its warm, dry summers and relatively mild winters offers excellent conditions in which the Pinot Noir vines flourish. The high number of sunshine hours results in wines that are powerful, rich and aromatic, but also fresh due to the tempering effects of the maritime influence from the Mediterranean Sea. The vines are pruned according to the Guyot method. The vineyard is certified organic and sustainable practices are employed in the vineyard. The vines are surrounded by hedges, to protect them from pesticide treatments in the neighbouring fields and also to provide a refuge for the wildlife, enhancing biodiversity and creating a balance. The vines are harvested in the cool of the night to retain freshness, half mechanically and half manually.
This Pinot Noir was traditionally vinified with the grapes undergoing three days of skin contact at cool temperatures of 5°C. Fermentation took place with wild yeasts, with maceration lasting for 10 days at 25°C to extract flavour, colour and fine tannins. The wine was aged on its lees in concrete vats for six months, with 30% aged in French oak demi-muid barrels from Burgundy and was bottled without fining.
| RRP | £16.50 |
| Vintage | 2024 |
| Alcoholic strength | 12.5% |
| Country | France |
| Region | Languedoc |
| Subregion | Pays d'Oc |
| Grapes | Pinot Noir100% |
| Residual sugar (g/l) | 2 |
| Body | B |
| Contains sulphites | Yes |
| Vegetarian | Yes |
| Vegan | Yes |
| Milk | No |
| Eggs | No |
| Organic | Yes |
| Biodynamic | No |
| Closure | Diam |
Villa Noria is the story of two wine enthusiasts, Fabien Gross and Cédric Arnaud, who both grew up in viticultural regions - Languedoc and Alsace - surrounded by vineyards and winemaking heritage and is the result of overflowing enthusiasm, ethics and values. The inheritance left to its owners by their winemaking ancestors, was passion and respect for the land. Located a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean Sea, between Pézenas and Montagnac, Villa Noria produces elegant organic wines, in perfect harmony with nature and the terroir. The winemaking is traditional, without chemical additions and only low doses of sulphur are used. Their natural ranges ‘Amfòra’ and ‘Basic Instinct’ are vinified without the addition of sulphur.
