Cru Beaumes de Venise Red Wine
Consecration of a product of quality
Since 1937, the date of the appellation classification, the great family of Cotes du Rhone wines has never ceased to progress and to be organized along hierarchal lines.
On June 9, 2005, the red wines from Beaumes de Venise wines rose to the supreme heights of Rhone Valley Crus, crowning 20 years of qualifying efforts with success after having received the appellation classification for its Cotes du Rhone Communal Village wines.
The vineyard covers the lovely hillsides of the 4 communities. Its red wines stem from several types of land.
THE APPELLATION
The Appellation of Controlled Origin decree lies on precise criteria:
- The wooded areas do not figure in the geographical limitation in order to preserve the countryside the environment and favour natural balance and biodiversity.
- The picking is exclusively manual, in order to harvest only the ripest and healthiest grapes. Weed killing between the rows with chemical products is strictly forbidden, as well as certain treatments preventing noble rot (botrytis).
- The yields are moderate and regularly checked (38 hectolitres per hectare).
- The wine producers use no enrichment techniques or vinification methods using flash heat expansion.
- In order for the quality and characteristics of the wines after ageing to conform to the consumers’ expectations, the validity of the certificate of approval does not exceed 8 months. The wine producer is no longer judge or biased: the jury will consist of a wine producer, a consumer and an oenological technician.
- Respect of the environment and the quality of their wines, is at the heart of the 100 wine producers’ preoccupations; they, who contribute to the making of this new Appellation.
With simple, rigorous measures, they take their destiny into their own hands, leaving judgement of their work to the client/ consumer.
- Characteristics of the wines: The Beaumes de Venise red wines have rich cherry red to purple colours.
Key figures for the Appellation
- Production 20,000 hectolitres
- 90 % bottled on the estate
- 30 % exports, 45% large and medium-size commercial outlets, 25% traditional channels of distribution
- Number of bottles produced annually: 2,600,000
- Surface: 500 hectares
- Type of Soil: clayish-limestone made up of:
- Oxford marl
- Upper Cretaceous
- Trias
- Grape Varieties: the main grape variety is black Grenache for at least 50%, complemented by Syrah for a minimum of 25%. To this can be added secondary grape varieties such as Mourvedre, Cinsault along with other authorized varieties in the Rhone Valley, including the possibility of white grape varieties for 10%.
- Authorized yield: 38 hectolitres per hectare
An Exceptional Land
If the fruit of the vine is the origin of wine, the particular characteristics of each cru is determined by the type of soil where the roots of the vines draw their nourishment and produce their foliage: the nature of the soil, its exposure and the prevailing climate are all essential factors contributing to the quality of the wines and this, for each parcel.
The red Beaumes de Venise wines grow on three major types of soils:
- The Trias earth
- White Cretaceous earth
- Grey Jurassic earth
THE TRIAS LAND
Trias , a unique history for a unique land
This is the name given to the most ancient period of time of the Second Era (200 to 230 millions of years ago). This formation was deposited in a shallow and unique sea called “Thetis”.
In the region, the Trias is buried under more than 1,500 metres of sediment. With the emerging of the Dentelles de Montmirail, it came to surface around Suzette in a phenomenon of compression called “Diapir of Suzette” unique in the Rhone Valley.
This movement crushed and mixed the initial deposits, resulting in a complex and varied nature:
-tender rocks (marl, clayish limestone)
-hard rocks (limestone, magnetite, limestone, gypsum –calcium sulphates, agglomerate gravel).
The farmable soils are naturally found in the more tender passages: relatively shallow soils, with debris of different types and colours of rocks (ochre, purplish, white) and the fine soil being ochre coloured.
This colour in the soils comes from the iron in the rocks which have become nearly totally crystallized. The earth hardens noticeably during periods of drought, but maintains sufficient fissured porosity for the small hairy roots.
Having a low degree of fertility, these soils allow the vine plants to avoid stress due to drought or moisture.
WHITE CRETACEOUS LAND
The soils which make them up were deposited in the community of Roque d’Alric between 100,000 and 140,000 million years ago.
The sea became shallower. Great coral massifs developed south of the present Alps. The transformation of the coral made large light-coloured plateaux.
This land is marlish clay limestone. The mother rock is a greyish colour turning red due to the presence of iron.
This results in a juxtaposition of marl covered with gravel and shallow banks of white limestone. However, because of the slant of the banks, the ground is deep enough for the vines to take root. In order to develop, the vine roots cover the calcareous blocks of stone from which they extract the mineral salts necessary to their growth.
This terroir, primarily farmed on terraces, enjoys maximum sunshine which perfectly suits the two main grape varieties of the area: Grenache for 80% and Syrah for the remaining 20%.
GREY JURASSIC LAND
Situated north of the village of Lafare, leaning against the southeast slopes of the Dentelles de Montmirail Massif, this land is primarily composed of black Oxford marl from the Upper Jurassic era (140 to 150 million years ago). They reached 1,500 metres at certain places.
Marl is non-consolidated rock, made up of alluvium, clay and sand in variable proportions.
Dark grey, often with a flaky aspect, clay coming from fine and ancient deposits in deep seas, muddy deltas, ancient lakes or rivers.
Easily penetrated by the roots, they quickly undergo change to become true soil. The size of the small-grained limestone (between 0.002 and 0.2 mm), makes it chemically active.
The sedimentation of the marl, along with effects of erosion, formed hillsides mainly facing east and southeast, thus guaranteeing optimal sunshine and regular ripening of the grapes.
The climate is Mediterranean, hot, protected from the Mistral wind by the famous “Dentelles de Montmirail” hills.