Belle Léone VdF 2011

Belle Léone is the name of the Léone since 2011 and has since become a Vin de France. It is one of the three Syrahs of Marlène Soria, one of the »best, craziest and most irrepressible winemakers of the whole Languedoc«, as it is called in the Vinum is called. It is certainly true that it takes a good deal of strength of character to age one's wines for more than ten years in large wood and in cement tanks before bottling them. But Marlène Soria is right about the results. The Léone is a Syrah fermented with a small amount of Mourvèdre. Both grape varieties are in the same vineyard on heavy clay soils.

dark brick red with reddish-brown rim and black core

Of the three Syrahs of the house, the Belle Léone darkest and earthiest, which is no wonder because the soil is still somewhat fatter and Mourvèdre plays a role here in addition to Syrah, while it is Grenache in the other two wines. The key to enjoyment here is to give the wine time and air in a carafe. Then it opens with notes of blackberries, sloes, plums and blueberries, graphite and cedar, liquorice and pepper, black nuts, cloves and an overtone of violets. It is joined by notes of rust, leather and herbs.

On the palate, the power, the depth and the monolithic nature of the wine becomes even more apparent. The Syrah appears enormously fleshy and deeply dark, juicy, stony and earthy with a fantastic extract density and extract sweetness, a monumental tannin that is already velvety and silky. A fresh vein of acidity runs through the wine, as well as spicy and fruity notes of blood oranges including peel. This shows a great intensity and density that will accompany the wine for decades. At the same time, the eleven years of ageing so far can be perceived in complex tertiary and balsamic notes. Also in 2011, the Belle Léone another downright monumental wine.