Domaine d'Aussières, Blason d'Aussières, AOC Corbières, Rouge, 2017

The weather usually varies enormously across the Languedoc region, but was uncharacteristically uniform in 2017. There was plenty of rain between the end of January and the end of March, enabling the replenishment of the water reserves essential for a good start to the growth cycle. This unusually wet start to the season was followed by some major climate incidents : like everywhere else in France, and indeed in Europe, the Languedoc experienced two frosts at the end of April of a severity that had not been seen in the region for more than 25 years, and which destroyed hundreds of hectares of vines. Nearly a third of Aussières’ vineyard was affected by these late sub-zero temperatures, and in one area the entire harvest was lost. Nevertheless, in the areas not affected by this disaster, the vintage proved to be of very high quality, with temperature and rainfall patterns similar to the excellent 2015. This enabled a good expression of the vines throughout the growth cycle, from bud break to flowering and, finally, the ripening stage. Superb weather in September and October allowed for excellent levels of ripeness to be reached by all the grape varieties, with beautiful aromatic expression and good balance across all of the plots.
The plots used to produce Blason d'Aussières were harvested between 2 September and 8 October 2017.