1999 Domaine Viret Les Colonnades Vin de France Rouge

Another single-vineyard wine, “Les Colonnades” is planted to 100-year-old Grenache and Mourvèdre in pebbly red-clay and limestone. Philippe picks purposefully late so that the Grenache teeters on the brink of over-maturity, but it remains adamantly on the fresh side of the divide, and this tardy harvesting imbues it with a wealth of autumnal character and spicy, tobacco-y depth. The articulation of iron-inflected minerality here is truly profound and it blossoms as the wine ages.