Blason d’Aussieres, Corbieres AOC

Description

Blason d’Aussieres is the second wine of Chateau d’Aussieres, a red wine produced by Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite in the Corbieres wine-growing region of the Languedoc-Roussillon.

Domaine D’Aussières was acquired by Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite in 1999 and, since then, this 550 hectare estate has undergone a vast rehabilitation programme. It is now one of the most prestigious, and high quality, wine estates in the Corbieres Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC). Corbieres is the largest AOC in the Languedoc-Roussillon wine producing region and was created in 1985. Historically there had been an awful lot of cheap wine produced in the region and, for many years, Corbieres was never really considered to be region to look to for a quality wine. Today there are a number of producers, including Domaine d’Aussieres trying to change this.

Domaine d’Aussieres consists of 167 hectares of vines which have been replanted with carefully selected traditional Languedoc grape varieties: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Carignan, complemented by Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay. The vineyard is situated close to Narbonne, at the heart of the “Fontfroide terroir”. The soil is very shallow and stony on the higher slopes, contains sand and sandstone at the base of the hills and becomes deeper and sandier in the plains. In some parts of the vineyard, outcrops of pink sandstone make mechanical work difficult. The estate buildings (an entire small village, in fact) were restored at the same time and a new winery, with State-of-the-art equipment and technology, has been installed in the old cellars, in the heart of the vineyard. Since 2019 Olivier Richaud has been the technical manager of the domaine.

Blason d’Aussieres is made from vines planted on deeper soils that are subject to less water stress than the shallow soils of the Château d’Aussières plots. The resulting wine is comparatively fruitier and more approachable in style. The wine is a blend of mainly Syrah and Grenache Noir with smaller amounts of Mourvedre and Carignan. 20% of the wine is aged in oak barrels for 10 to 12 months. Annual production is between 25,000 to 30,000 cases. This wine has many characteristics of the main wine but is a bit better for earlier drinking.

The 2019 is a blend of Syrah 36%, Grenache Noir 35%, Mourvèdre 12% and Carignan 9%.