Vidal Fleury Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2020
Type: Red
Country: France
Region: Rhone Valley
Grape Variety: 100% Syrah
Climate: Continental climate with hot summers, cool autumns and winters
Terroir: Grapes are sourced from the southern part of the Crozes-Hermitage AOC along the left bank of the Rhône River. Soils are made up primarily of stone, calcareous clay and sand. Vineyard elevations between 150-250 meters
Winemaking: Grapes are machine and hand-harvested and transported to the winery in small crates. Fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled tanks with the maceration period lasting approximately 3 weeks. The wine is aged on its lees first in tank for 3 months followed by an additional 12 months in large oak casks. The finished wine is very lightly filtered (cross flow) and not fined. The wines rest in the bottle for a minimum of 6 months prior to release
Color: Dark red
Nose: A nose of blackcurrant, plum, violet but also pepper and toast, with a vegetal note
Palate: Supple, fresh palate, black fruit, mineral, with roundness and persistence based on fresh fruit
About the Winery:
Founded in 1781, Vidal-Fleury is the Rhône Valley’s oldest continuing grower/négociant firm. Thomas Jefferson’s visit in 1787 was its first contact with the United States; he called the wines “justly celebrated”.
During the 1890s, Gustave Vidal married a daughter of the Fleury family. Thanks to her dowry, they replanted the vineyard following the phylloxera outbreak. Then, in the 1920s, the House took an interest in other wine-growing regions throughout the Rhône Valley.
In 1984, Ets. Guigal acquired the company. This step was a logical continuation for the Vidal-Fleury and Guigal families, who had always worked together. Indeed, Etienne Guigal (Marcel’s father) was hired as a vine grower and cellar master by Joseph Vidal-Fleury in 1924. When the Vidal-Fleury family decided to sell the House, as none of its heirs felt like taking over the reins, it naturally turned to the Guigal family. As a result, the company remains family-run. Vidal-Fleury is managed in absolute independence with its own winemaking, logistics and commercial team.
In 2006 Vidal-Fleury began investing to modernize its winery facilities, installing state-of-the-art technology; in 2008, it built a new cellar specifically dedicated to maturing the wines. In addition, Vidal-Fleury’s vineyards are overseen with 100% self-sustaining management practices.
Long considered one of the most respected producers in the Rhône Valley, Vidal-Fleury carries on under the watchful management of Head Winemaker Guy Sarton du Jonchay.
