Chateau Les Vieux Moulins, Les Helices, Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux, France

Who - Damien Lorteau, Chateau Les Vieux Moulins
Where - Blaye, Côtes-de-Bordeaux, France
What - Red Wine - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon
When - 2020
How  - Organic, fermentation with indigenous yeasts, matured in concrete tanks for two years, vegan

It takes characters like Damien Lorteau and his parents to be brave, step outside the mainstrean and breathe life (literally soil life) into their pocket of the right bank near Blaye. Damien returned to his parents vineyards after adventuring around the world, making wine working with progressive growers in Spain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the US as well as closer to home in Burgundy and the Rhône.

Les Helices is taken from Damien's mother's parcels of old vines over limestone that slope down to the Gironde estuary. Aged for two years in concrete tanks and bottled in the waning moon of spring 2021. Lovely and soft, deep fruit, cassis with a lift of limey acidity.