Description

An intense colour with purple highlights. The nose opens with fresh red and black fruits (blackberries and morello cherries) with hints of spice and truffle. Subtle, balsamic oak. On the palate, it is powerful and warm, full-bodied and fragrant. The finish reveals its fullness, silky tannins and a lingering fruit and spice. The Cuvée du Vigneron Inconnu possesses a complexity and power rarely found in the wines of La Tuilerie du Puy.

In the vineyard, in the cellar

• Terroir: Clay-limestone soil over rocky subsoil.
• Grape varieties: Merlot (75%), Cabernet Sauvignon (25%)
• Yield: 30 hl/ha
• The vines: average age of the plots 55 years, pruned using the double Guyot method
• Planting density: 5,000 vines per hectare
• Vinification: The grapes are destemmed and sorted. They are then vatted for 4 to 6 weeks to allow for slow extraction, ensuring the perfect expression of our terroir. Each plot is identified and vinified in separate temperature-controlled stainless steel vats to refine and enhance the future blends.
• Ageing: The wine, which is racked regularly throughout its ageing process, is aged for 18 months in French oak barrels (100% new barrels).

A little history

Lost amidst the vines, we have, for as long as anyone can remember, had a silent tenant. A simple grave, at the end of a row of vines, is his resting place. This unmarked grave is not recorded in any document. It is the origin of the name ‘Le Vigneron Inconnu’ (The Unknown Winegrower) given to this plot, which consists of old Cabernet Sauvignon vines and a few Merlot vines. Who was he? The story goes that jewellery had gone missing from a neighbouring house and that a poor winegrower was accused of the theft and summarily hanged. As the jewellery was recovered shortly afterwards, the owner, to make amends, is said to have set aside a place for him amidst the vines and pledged that his family would tend the grave… Since then, one thing is certain: the grave is always regularly adorned with flowers. And, on certain misty evenings, several neighbours have spotted fleeting shadows around the grave, which vanish as one approaches.

What to eat with a Vigneron Inconnu from La Tuilerie du Puy?

• A piece of aged beef with parsley
• Duck with cabbage
• Leg of lamb
• Venison stew