Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu, “Les Terres Saintes”

This prestige cuvée of Manarine is produced from a selection of lower yielding old vines (average 55 years old). Gilles destems the entire harvest and uses cement tanks for fermentation. Structured as a “vin de garde”, it benefits from a longer “cuvaison” of 30 days or more. During the “élevage” both red wines go through “delestage” and “remontage” (a technique whereby the tank is completely emptied and the wine pumped back into it on top of the layer of skins) to extract color and flavor. Once the fermentation is complete, the wine is racked into cement vats for aging but 20% is also aged for 8 months in “demi-muids” (600L barrels). The wine is bottled without filtration after a 24 month “élevage”. On average, 4,800 bottles are destined for the US.