Saint Joseph Cavanos L'Amarybelle

Food match on red or white meat with character, beef, lamb, Provençal beef stew, Camargue rice.

This Saint-Joseph is 100% Syrah from a selection of old vines aged 20 to 40 years, located in terraced hillsides on sandy, shallow granitic soils. Yves isolated his plots located on Chavanay, the northernmost village of the Saint-Joseph appellation, the only one mainly composed of muscovite granite. These plots made up most of the blend of the “Amarybelle” cuvée. He eliminated this cuvée in favour of the cuvée "Cavanos" (old Gallic name of Chavanay). The grapes are harvested manually.

Aged 18 months in barrels.

In the cellar, sorting, crushing, and partial destemming. Fermentation in open vats for around 3 weeks with temperature controls, punching down and regular pumping over.Malolactic fermentation in barrels, with natural yeasts.

Yves Cuilleron is described by Wine Spectator as the leader of Condrieu's new generation of winemakers. Yves represents the 4th generation of Cuilleron vignerons although he initially trained as a engineer. The lure of the vine proved too hard to resist and after a year's training at the Ecole Viticole in Macon he took over the vineyards in 1987. Since then he has built an entirely new winery at Chavany facility while at the same time he acquired additional vineyard property. The domaine now produces about 50 000 bottles annually divided between the appellations of St. Joseph Blanc St. Joseph Rouge Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu.