Domaine Sainte-Croix, Le Fournas 2017

Nestling in the wild, rocky hills of the upper Corbières, the Domaine Sainte Croix is located near Fraïssé des Corbières, a small village in the South of France at the limit of the Languedoc and the Roussillon areas, 20 minutes west of the Mediterranean sea. The domaine's vineyard covers 13 hectares of a complex terroir composed of steely blue chalk, quartz, clay and thin sheets of greeny-purple slate. The vines benefit from a microclimate alternating maritime winds with drier, hotter continental influences from the west. These conditions develop red, rosé and white wines with strong personalities marrying concentration and elegance. The Domaine Sainte Croix is run by Jon and Elizabeth Bowen, both of English origin. They built up their knowledge and experience in traditional French properties and all over the world in outsized industrial wineries where stainless steel tanks are the rule. At their first sight of this small scale vineyard with its rich geological complexity and particular microclimate, their professional intuition left them with no doubt about the natural potential of this terroir to produce great wines.