Val Beylie 2019 “Demoiselle”

PRODUCER INFO

• This small hillside estate is situated in Mérignas, just across the Dordogne river from the Saint-Émilion appellation boundary. While the soil and climate here are essentially the same as Mérignas’ famous neighbor to the North, the culture cannot be more different. On pulling up to the Château entrance, expect to see children jumping on a trampoline, wooden swings cleverly wedged between Acacia trees, hand-sewn clothes drying in the sun, and pets of all shapes and sizes bounding about. The vines here may not be perfectly manicured, but they are pulsing with life – The air is loud with insect calls and flowers of all colors shoot up from the wild grass below the estate’s organically farmed vines.
• Christophe Pont runs all aspects of this operation with his own bare hands. The ten acre spread of Val Beylie is large enough to feed the family and small enough to avoid the need for employees – Just the right size for a man driven to keep life simple and fulfilling
• Wines are fermented and cellared in the 18th century winery adjacent to Christophe’s house that is being restored using timber harvested from the eastern edge of the property.

ABOUT THE WINE

• Extended skin maceration, while not the norm for Bordeaux Blanc, gives this wine unique weight and color along with distinctive honey notes on the palate.
• Organically grown grapes from estate vineyards owned by Christophe Pont with clay and limestone soils.
• ‘Demoiselle’ means “damsel” in English.

Vintage: 2019 | Wine Type: White Wine
Varietal: 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Sémillon
Origin: France | Appellation: Bordeaux Blanc (estate grown and bottled)
Elaboration: Grapes are hand picked in small boxes for delivery to the winery. Grapes are pressed, left to sit on the skins for several hours, fermented with native yeast in stainless steel tanks with temperature control.
Conservation: Unoaked
Winemaker:  Christophe Pont 

TASTING NOTES

Nice clean, fruit-forward nose, delicate and smooth in the mouth with herbs, honey, white flowers and gingerbread aromas. Weighty and quite complex in the mouth with good acidity and minerality, nice and balanced on the finish.

TECHNICAL DATA

Production: 500 cases | Alcohol: 12.5% | TA: 3.2 g/l | Residual Sugar: <2 g/l | pH: 3.7

PRESS & POINTS

2015 – 90 Points, WineX