Tardieu Laurent : Cuvée Spéciale 2025

Characteristics and Tasting Tips for the Cuvée Spéciale 2025 from Tardieu-Laurent

Food and Wine Pairing

This Cuvée Spéciale pairs beautifully with roast poultry, slow-cooked white meats and Mediterranean dishes enlivened with garrigue herbs, such as herb-crusted lamb or a light daube.

Serving and Cellaring

The Cuvée Spéciale 2025 is best served at a temperature of around 14°C.

A Côtes du Rhône from Tardieu-Laurent, Crafted around Old-Vine Grenache

The Estate

Founded in 1996 in Lourmarin, in the Luberon, at the gateway to the Rhône Valley, Tardieu-Laurent is now run by the Tardieu family: Michel, his wife Michèle, and their children Bastien and Camille. A micro-négociant with no vineyards of its own, the house relies on a network of around one hundred partner growers spread from the north to the south of the Rhône to craft and age a wide range of cuvées each year across the entire Rhône Valley. Its identity rests on the search for old vines and on an ageing approach inspired by Burgundian practices, giving its cuvées a signature recognised by international critics.

The Vineyard

The Grenache that makes up this Côtes du Rhône comes from old vines grown on terroirs typical of the southern Rhône. The soils, made up of rolled pebbles and sand, benefit from a Mediterranean climate marked by hot summers and the regular passage of the mistral, conducive to slow ripening and concentrated berries.

Winemaking and Ageing

For the Cuvée Spéciale 2025, the grapes are hand-harvested at the partner growers' estates, then vinified using methods that favour, depending on the terroir and the vintage, either whole-bunch fermentation or destemming, in order to preserve the finesse and perfume of old-vine Grenache. The wine is then aged for around fifteen to twenty months in French oak barrels of two and three wines, followed by large oak foudres, before being bottled without fining or filtration to preserve all the density of the wine.

Grape Varieties

This cuvée is made from Grenache.