'Alice' La Cave Aux Fioles 2021

“Alice Aux Pays Des Vermeils” is a red wine created at Domaine La Cave Aux Fioles, an ancient chapel lost in the Roussillon countryside and transformed into a winemaking laboratory: a label that speaks volumes about the personality of the visionary vigneron Carlos Badia, an eclectic character that is difficult to categorize within the often stereotyped standards of the current wine world.

La Cave Aux Fioles produces “Alice Aux Pays Des Vermeils” using a decidedly rare local black grape variety known as Lledoner Pelut: in 2018, there were 286 hectares of it recorded in France. It seems to be a genetic mutation of Grenache Noir and is indeed widespread in Spain under the name Garnacha Peluda. The quirky name comes from the characteristic thick fuzz that covers the buds and the underside of the adult leaves. Of certain Catalan origin and thus at home in these fringes of Occitania, it is cultivated by Carlos Badia under certified organic conditions and using biodynamic principles. The old bush-trained vines,bush-trained, in some cases perhaps even centenarian, thrive on a calcareous soil with clay cover and in a dry and windy climate: the parcels are located in the area of Salses-le-Chateau, in the immediate vicinity of Perpignan, right in view of the sea and the brackish marshes along the coast. The harvest is naturally carried out by hand at the full ripeness of the grapes, and the yields are in homeopathic quantities: on average 12 hectoliters per hectare. In the winery, the grapes are manually pressed with a vertical wooden press, and the must ferments spontaneously in steel containers, without any type of addition or correction. Bottling is done by hand, without filtration.

“Alice Aux Pays Des Vermeils” by La Cave Aux Fioles presents itself dressed in an intense ruby red. The aromas are almost stunning, all directed towards the southern typicity of the variety: notes of Mediterranean herbs leap out at the nose and intertwine with hints of dark fruit such as plum, along with cherry and sour cherry. The finish is delicately spiced. The sip immediately reveals the crunchiness