Fitou, Noblesse du Temps, Domaine de la Rochelierre 2019
Decanter World Wine Awards 93 points; International Wine & Spirit Competition 91 points (2022)
Mix any six bottles and you pay the Any 6+ price at checkout — no code needed.
£10 tracked UK delivery, however many bottles.
We pack and send twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, by Royal Mail Tracked 48.
Members pay £26.80 — £6.70 less on this bottle. Membership is £120 a year and carries the EDKA Promise. Membership terms
Why this wine
Fitou is the Languedoc's oldest red appellation and still one of its least fashionable, which is why a wine of this weight costs what it does. Half Mourvèdre, six weeks on skins and eleven months in new French oak give it real density while the tannins stay fine. The Fabre family have farmed here without chemicals since 1979.
At a glance
- Grape
- Mourvèdre 50%, Carignan 30%, Grenache 20%
- Region
- Languedoc, France
- Alcohol
- 15.00%
- Body
- Full
- Acidity
- Medium
- Tannins
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Short (3-5 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Red Meat, Barbecue, Cheese
How it tastes
Leather, roasted tones and prune over ripe black fruit, with a touch of cocoa on the finish. Opulent and velvety, full-bodied, the refined tannins framing the fruit and carrying it to a long, elegant close. Mourvèdre 50%, Carignan 30%, Grenache 20%.
The producer
The Fabre family have been winegrowers for four generations and run the 15-hectare Domaine de la Rochelierre in the village of Fitou. Since 1979 the estate has followed the Méthode Cousinié, working without chemicals and using only organic and mineral products, which demands heavy ploughing every year and drives the roots deep; Jean-Marie Fabre was joined by Emilie, from a Rhône winegrowing family, in 2008, a new cellar was built in 2015, and the domaine was certified HVE in 2017. The vines sit in the heart of the appellation overlooking the Mediterranean on very poor shale and clay-limestone soils, with sea breezes tempering the heat and ventilating the canopy. Each variety was fermented separately with selected yeasts in stainless steel at around 20°C and macerated for six weeks to draw out colour, flavour and fine tannin, then blended and matured in new French oak barrels for eleven months. 2019 was a balanced year, warm without extremes and with average rainfall that spared the vines any water stress, giving healthy, concentrated fruit.
Food and drinking
Serve at 16–18°C. It stands up to braised beef, lamb with rosemary, barbecued ribs and a mature hard cheese, and will drink well over the next five to ten years. Give it an hour in a decanter. It is sealed with a DIAM cork. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.