Fortant - 2020 vintage

Sète - Some great wines to look forward to 

The harvests

The vines were in good health thanks to the mistral and tramontane winds. The late-ripening varieties - Cabernet-sauvignon, Mourvèdre, Grenache noir and Carignan - benefitted from rainfall at the start of September which helped produce great grapes. The harvests occurred around the dates that are usual for the area.
17th August: we started off with Pinot noirs in plots running alongside areas of garrigue. Healthy grapes with a good balance of sugar and acidity and typical yields.
30th September: the harvest ends with the picking of the late-ripening varieties.

Initial tastings

‘Excellent balance of sugar and acidity for the reds and whites. Nicely-defined aromas. Clean, expressive wines. The whites are aromatic and fresh. The reds look to have very promising cellaring potential. This year was different to normal for the reds in that the vatting period lasted four weeks, instead of the three weeks which is normally the case, because acidity levels were high and a little more time was required to integrate the tannins. It’s worth noting that different grape varieties produced different yields. This was especially the case for the Syrah grapes for rosé wine, which suffered from the dry conditions and did not produce a lot of juice, unlike the Cinsault and Grenache vines. All in all, we’ve got some great wines to look forward to!’
LAURENT SAUVAGE