My first reaction to an invitation to a wine dinner with a Luberon wine maker Alex Rousset-Rouard of Domaine De La Citadelle was pretty immediate, “Yes please, count me in!” Why go? While there are that many grand cru kind of wine tasting offering everyday? For me, it is a sub region we don’t always got to taste here in HK and Sarment never disappoint on the wine they find.
It was being held at one of my all time fav resto Yè shanghai at the Pacific Place HK with an intimate good crowd of 9 people.
Domaine de la Citadelle sits at the foot of the beautiful hilltop village of Menerbes 35 kilometres to the east of Avignon in the idyllic Provençal region of the Luberon. The domaine covers 39 hectares and is made up of 63 different parcels of vineyard which offers a great variety of soil types and microclimates that makes their wine interesting. In fact, this domaine is one of those whom tried to re-discover their wine in elegance and finesse rather than looking for over extracted wines like the past.
La Citadelle’s vineyards are mostly on the north-facing limestone slopes where wine are usually fresher, with higher natural acidity and have a greater level of tannins whilst often being lower in alcohol. They have a large range of soils (clay and limestone, sandy clay, scree or marl), of latitudes, of sun exposure and of grape varieties are the major assets for developing fine, elegant and complex typical wines. The Domaine counts today 14 grape varieties. Syrah and Grenache are the basis of the Domaine where other varieties like Roussanne, Viognier, Mourvedre and Cinsault were introduced in the early 1990s.
We tasted Alex’s wine during the dinner such as the Domaine De La Citadelle, Le Chataiger 2011, Les Armtemes 2009, Gouverneur Saint Auban 2009 which are amazing in their own way. The wine made with a high proportion of cool-toned Syrah full of elegance and charm. ‘Like the Syrah of the Northern Rhône with a southern charm,’ Alexis said.
These are outstanding, generous wine and most importantly very well priced ones (from HKD200 to HKD360) that you can go enjoy with a meal or just open causally drinking on it own. Have a try from The Hedonist or Sarment.
The Hedonist
carol.thehedonist@gmail.com
Sarment
Suite 1301, 13F Lyndhurst Tower
1 Lyndhurst Terrace
Central, Hong Kong
Domaine De La Citadelle
84560 Ménerbes
04 90 72 41 58
www.domaine-citadelle.com
