- Awards
-
Winner of Wine of the Year by Country - France - The Sommeliers Choice Awards 2021
Gold Medal - 93/100 at the Sommeliers Choice Awards 2021
- Description
- The biggest, more concentrated Bee that we have made - absolutely bursting with blackberry, fennel and dark damson and black cherry, and but also very smooth and lusciously rich.
- Eyes
- A deep black red.
- Nose
- Vibrant black fruit nose, with a spice-box of vanilla and cinnamon and wafts of rosemary.
- Mouth
- This is a turbo-charged, super-ripe, smooth, rich and complex wine of great intensity.
- Body
- Full
- Winemaking Notes
- All are grapes for Domaine of the Bee were hand harvested, and then hand-sorted at the winery to ensure we only chose the healthiest and ripest grapes. The first Carignan to be picked is fermented in a stainless steel tank, except for 5 barrels-worth which was cold-macerated, as was all of the Grenache in upturned demi-muids (500L barrels) with the ends taken out, before being warmed up, inoculated with yeast, and gently punched down 2-3 times a day. After pressing, all of the wine was drained into a mixture of 500L and 225L barrels, approximately a quarter of which are new, and left to mature for 14 months.
- Growing Conditions
- One of those rare years that delivered both exceptional quality and above-average quantity. The wines have been fruit-forward from the moment the grapes were picked at full ripeness.
- Food Pairing
- Great with grilled red meat, hearty stews, barbequed food, and hard cheeses.
Reviews
SUSIE BARRIE MW
July 25, 2019 23:00
Rich, bold and inky, this densely textured red certainly packs a punch. There’s a whiff of heady garrigue here along with wild black fruits and dark chocolate overtones in this multi-layered and powerful wine. One to sip and savour with a bbq’d leg of rosemary and garlic-infused lamb.
TOM CANNAVAN
Tom Cannavan's Wine-pages.com - Professional
https://wine-pages.com/tasting-articles/domaine-of-the-bee/
July 22, 2019
A blend of Carignan and Grenache, matured in a mix of 500L and 225L barrels, a quarter new, for 14 months. This is a big powerhouse wine with 15% abv and plenty of structure and depth, yet the nose is not without perfume, delicate rose and bergamot, spices and tobacco atop the black fruits. In the mouth a rich and substantial wine, the creamy-smooth tannins just edging the sumptuous, sweetly ripe black fruit. Plum-skins and cherry pits in the dry acidity add to the savoury character in a cracking wine – writ large. £20 for Bee subscribers.
93/100 points
TAMLYN CURRIN
Jancisrobinson.com - Professional
July 19, 2019 23:00
Grenache and Carignan from Maury, near Roc de l’Abeille (Rock of the Bee). Hand-picked in October, skin maceration. Aged in small barrels for a year. Back label suggests that you decant for a couple of hours before serving.
Explosively ripe, purple-berried nose with just a touch of chargrill. Fresh black figs and fresh damsons and mulberry syrup in a heady cocktail of delicious, velvety, seductive ripeness with a touch of Turkish coffee lurking in the background. And then you feel that throat-warming alcohol that warns you not to quaff this by the glassful! Which is hard. This is a dragon of a wine, powerful and dangerously alcoholic, but sitting over a pile of glowing, jewelled fruit
16.5/20 points
JOHNNY RAY
The Spectator - Professional
https://life.spectator.co.uk/articles/wines-of-the-week-try-a-summery-white-port/
July 16, 2019 23:00
"…..their flagship red, the stunning, rich, concentrated Grenache/Carignan blend that is the 2017 Domaine of the Bee (£25)"