2023 “Cuvée Sinso”, Vin Rouge

Our red Cuvée Sinsó and the pink Les Fruits Rouges can be thought of as twin or complementary aspects of the profoundly misunderstood (and sometimes unfairly maligned) grape variety, Cinsault.  Let’s not mince words:  Cinsault often produces a rather ginormous cluster, typically low in tannin and not particularly rich in anthocyanins, the pigmented material found in the grape skins. (But making up for this deficit, the grape can offer unparelleled fragrance, typically griotte cherry.) We labor mightily in the vineyard to bring the crop levels down to a reasonable degree with these prodigious vines, removing the wings from the larger clusters as well as rigorously thinning the laggardly ripening bunches. To create a more concentrated and vivid red wine, we will bleed a portion of the Cinsault juice prior to fermentation to enhance the skin to juice ratio. Further, the addition of Syrah grapes (rich in polyphenols) to the Cinsault acts in such a way to protect and stabilize the color of the Cinsault must, the way a moat might protect a besieged castle. Best served slightly cool, it is the quintessential vin de soif.