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This wine is named after the Three Peaks of my native Yorkshire and also the 3 pics of the Pyrenees that overlook the vineyard—Pic de Neoulous, Roc de France and Le Canigou.

Viticulture

The grapes for this wine come from vines grown on the hill and plateau of Le Roubau , situated between the villages of Ponteilla and Trouillas in the Aspres region of the Roussillon. The hill was the site of the Battle of Trouillas in 1793. The soils are a mixture of stony quartz, clay and limestone.

2006 had a wet winter with the first snow for 20 years. After April there was no more rain, resulting in a hot, dry ripening period with very low disease risk. The combination of plentiful soil-water supplies and good weather led to wines with great balance of acidity, tannin and fruit.

We practice Sustainable Viticulture, no chemical fertilizers are used. Grapes are sorted and hand-harvested into small picking cases.

Vinification

Blend: 40% Mourvedre, 30% Syrah, 30% Grenache noir

Alcohol content 13.5%, Residual Sugar 1.3g, pH 3.6

De-stemmed without crushing, traditionally fermented for 2 weeks with a further week maceration before pressing. 60% of the wine was aged in stainless steel and the rest aged in new and used French oak barrels for 12 months.

Unfined but coarse-filtered before bottling in environmentally-friendly bottles and sealed with natural cork treated with microwave to reduce the risk of TCA.

THREE PEAKS

Tasting Notes

A distinctly animal nose, like a horse’s saddle, with blackberries underneath. In the mouth the wine has good solid berry fruits, an earthy minerality and good structure.