Château Pesquié At Its Best
We’ve written a fair bit about Château Pesquié over the past year, but it seems there is 
always more to say about this pioneering Rhône Valley estate. Throughout its portfolio, the Pesquié style is elegant and balanced, the essence of the wines being the unique, elevated terroir of Mont Ventoux and the commitment of the winemakers, brothers Alexandre and Frédéric, to showcasing this terroir through sustainable, biodynamic farming and careful, considered winemaking. Today’s wines are the estate’s most special and highly regarded: single vineyard cuvées made from the best grapes and that tell the story of the exceptional geological diversity of Pesquié’s vineyards and the Ventoux region.
Château Pesquié 2019 ‘Cuvée Juliette’, Ventoux
With grapes sourced from limestone soils at an altitude of 300m (1000 ft) this blend of 70% Clairette and 30% Grenache Blanc is harvested at night to ensure freshness. The wine is fermented and aged primarily in concrete to preserve varietal characteristics and natural minerality, resulting in a palate of bright fruit and intriguing salinity.
Retail: $69.95 / btl (6 btl/cs)
Château Pesquié 2018 ‘Artemia’, Ventoux
From one of the highest vineyard plots at 400m (1300 ft) and very low-yielding vines, the blend of 75% Syrah and 25% Grenache undergoes a long maceration and very gentle extraction and is aged in a combination of concrete and oak, offering a more Northern Rhône style of Syrah with a very balanced and restrained profile.
Retail: $69.95 / btl (6 btl/cs)
Château Pesquié 2019 ‘Silica’, Ventoux
This blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Cinsault is named in homage to one of the most important elements of biodynamic farming, the Horn Silica, used to promote vine vigour and overall health. This wine is a perfect expression of ripe Grenache bursting with fruit and silky tannins, results of the sandy soils in which the vines are grown.
Retail: $69.95 / btl (6 btl/cs)
Château Pesquié 2017 ‘Ascensio’, Ventoux
Ascensio is only produced in very small quantities in exceptional vintages. From clay and limestone with large heat-retaining stones, this blend of 95% Grenache and 5% Syrah is fermented 30% whole cluster in cement and aged in oak to produce a full-bodied, long-lived wine with the intensity and purity of the very best Grenache of the Rhône Valley.
Retail: $131.95 / btl (3 btl/cs)
Click HERE to order!
The Wines
Château Pesquié 2019 ‘Cuvée Juliette’, Ventoux
93 points – Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate, September 2020
Tasted as a tank sample of the final blend prior to bottling, the 2019 Ventoux Cuvée Juliette is a blend of 70% Clairette from a limestone-rich parcel, while the 30% Grenache Blanc comes from a sandier site. Ninety percent went into concrete egg, with the balance in a demi-muid. It offers up delicate aromas of white peaches and tangerine on the nose, while the medium-bodied palate is fine and clean, with a crisp, saline quality on the long, mouthwatering finish.
Château Pesquié 2018 ‘Artemia’, Ventoux
94 points – Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate, September 2020
Impressive as a prospective blend taken from equal proportions of barriques, demi-muids and tanks, the 2018 Ventoux Artemia boasts exuberant notes of cherries and blueberries accented by assertive notes of cracked pepper. It’s full-bodied, creamy and lush, then firms up just enough on the finish to think it will have a decade of longevity.
Château Pesquié 2019 ‘Silica’, Ventoux
93 points – Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com, October 2020
The Grenache-dominated (90% Grenache and 10% Cinsault) 2019 Ventoux Silica is a beautiful wine that just screams cool-climate Grenache with its more ruby, almost translucent color as well as perfumed red fruits, spicy, floral, and gamey aromatics, more medium-bodied richness, and flawless overall balance. Reminding me of a grand cru Burgundy with its seamless texture as well as outstanding length, it’s going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and drink brilliantly over the following decade.
Château Pesquié 2017 ‘Ascensio’, Ventoux
95 points – Anthony Gismondi, Anthony Gismondi on Wine, August 2019
It is a giant wine with a rich and overpowering nose of black raspberries, dark plums, licorice, mineral, and dried herb notes. Like all the Pesquié wines, it manages all its intensity by remaining fresh and vibrant. There is no rush to drink this remarkable wine but if you must, think of equally rich dishes like bœuf bourguignon or venison.
Click HERE to order!
About Château Pesquié
Chateau Pesquié is a pioneering estate of the Côtes de Ventoux AOC (appellation established in 1973). The Bastide family purchased the estate in the early ‘70s, and reorganized the vineyards, preserving the best blocks (now close to 100 years old). Their daughter Edith and husband Paul Chaudière joined the Bastides in the mid 1980s, Paul’s family conveniently having 150 years of history in viticulture, and Paul’s father also being a professor of oenology in nearby Orange. In 1989, the family established their own cellars, and stopped selling grapes to the local co-op. Then, in 2003, Edith & Paul’s sons Frédéric & Alexandre assumed responsibility for the estate. Sustainably farmed since the 1980s, the estate moved to fully organic methods in the early 2000s, and now largely biodynamic. Solar panels on the property produce more electricity than the estate uses.
Estate vineyards are located in 3 villages: Mormoiron, Blauvac and Ville-sur-Auzon, where the southern slopes of Mont Ventoux are blessed with outstanding levels of sunshine (up to 12 hours per day in July), yet Château Pesquié has one of the coolest microclimates in the south of the Rhône Valley. This is due to elevation (between 300 and 400 m) and the influence of the mountain. The variation of temperatures between days and nights (diurnal variation) helps create excellent physiological balance in the vines, and colour, concentration and freshness in the wines. The terroir has a great mineral diversity, predominantly consisting of limestone, and the Mistral ventilates, ensuring the cultivation of healthy vines. This remarkable place results in a range of impressive white, rosé & red wines, from traditional Rhône varietals. The wines are Vegan-friendly.
NEW! Order online at TheVineAgency.ca.
You can also email wine@thevineagency.ca or call 416.693.7994. We’d love to chat about wine with you!
