Chateau Simone Rouge 2021 (750ML)

The Rougier family has held to the same vinification methods at Château Simone for decades, working twenty hectares that were replanted after phylloxera and still hold many vines more than a century old. The vineyards climb the limestone slopes of Montaiguet in Palette, between 500 and 750 feet, where pine forest, Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Arc River shape the climate. The 2021 rouge is 45% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre and 5% Cinsault, with the last 20% a mix of Syrah, Carignan, Castet, Manosquin and native Muscats. Grapes are hand-picked, wild-fermented in small wooden vats, then given 18 to 24 months in foudre and a further year or more in old barrique before bottling unfiltered. A cooler season brought fresh acidity and poise, with plum and pine resin giving way to cinnamon, truffle and spice as it ages. Pour it with Provençal lamb daube, thyme-roasted quail or black olive tapenade.