"Tasted in January 2020 - Copper gold, with a beautifully rich nutty nose and a hint of coffee. The palate is full and silky with a note of dried fig. A lovely way to finish a meal, delicious with ice cream, poached pears or Tarte Tatin."
This wine from Domaine Casenobe was discovered by Philippe Gayral. Whilst working in the late 1990’s for a co-op the Roussillon region, Philippe visited many small family estates, uncovering the best fortified wines and grapes that populate Roussillon in the foothills of the Pyrénées. Perhaps his greatest discovery was the personal reserves most families kept in barrels for themselves–what the French call a 'poire pour la soif' or 'a pear for thirst'–often marking important years in family history or saved for rainy days or just to see how a particularly fine vintage would age. Over the course of the last 20 years Philippe began buying these very special foudres, building up the largest collection of 'French Vin Doux Naturels' in the world and eventually founded Muse Vintage Wines in 2005. Called 'the Archivist' by wine journalist Jancis Robinson, Philippe is passionate and meticulous, having a drastic selection of the best wines remaining and working with the French government and authorities of the region to access all of the relevant information for each wine he is releasing, allowing him to precisely identify the family, origin and vintage from which the barrels came. These extremely refined traditionally fortified wines represent the very best wines in the region, covering three appellations, Rivesaltes, Banyuls and Maury with vintages spanning from 1874 to 1988.True pieces of French history
Domaine Casenobe extends to approximately 50 acres of vines surrounded by a number of fruit orchards, located in the villlages of Cabestany, Saint Nazaire and Canet in Roussillon, between Perpignan and the Mediterranean Sea. The terrain is mainly made up of argillo-calcareous soil and rounded river pebbles such as at Châteauneuf de Pape. It was the great grandfather of Gaudérique Casenobe who initiated the planting of the vineyards on the family’s land in the 1900s. The father, Raymond, born 22 May 1920, worked on developing the wine-growing activity and then began diversifying into the growing of fruit trees.
