Like pearls on a string 2022 is a natural wine crafted by Anders Frederik Steen, in the Ardeche region in France. This red wine is made with Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Petit Sirah, Syrah, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc grapes.
This unique wine features some nice residual sugar, and as such would work great also for desserts, perhaps served alongside a chocolate mouuse, as the taste reminds you a bit of Machino cherres, vanilla, thyme and cacoa. There is a whiff of V.A giving it a bit of edge and there is a wild side that many will appreciate. A wine to share, rather than consume whole bottle alone.
ONE PER ORDER. DOCUMENTARY LINK BELOW
Anders Fredrik Steen states that "So, in short, in 2021 we lost 100% of the grapes from our own vineyards to a very violent hailstorm that was centered in the area around Valgrand. Again in 2022 we were hit by a hailstorm, less violent than in 2021, but a combination of the two events left us in 2022 with only 25% of a “normal” harvest.
Because of that we decided, in 2022, to harvest all the remaining grapes the same day, destem the Grenache Noir, Grenache Blanc, the Petit Sirah, Syrah and the Viognier, to be able to sort and select only the most beautiful berries, and blend them into the directly pressed juice of Sauvignon Blanc to macerate for around a month. After décuvage the fermenting juice was filled into one of our old Foudre. Here it continued to ferment for a year, but without the yeast being able to finish the sugar.
For that reason, we made a soutirage in the summer of 2023 and transferred the wine to Demi-Muid. In these barrels the yeast worked better and finished the sugar within 6 months, from there we kept the wine another two years of élevage in the barrels, meaning in total around three years of élevage."
After checkout... watch our super interesting, 30 minute documentary on Anders Frederik Steen HERE
