Cioran IGP 500ml

An oxidatively aged white wine from Roussillon, sharply contoured and highly distinctive. In the glass it shines with an intense golden yellow, the nose is striking yet refined: salted almonds, sea spray, iodine notes, along with meat broth and soy sauce.

The plots lie on the schist terraces of Montner, on the north-facing slope of Força Real, sheltered there from the scorching Mediterranean sun. Marjorie and Stéphane Gallet farm 25 hectares across twenty plots there biodynamically, up to 400 metres in altitude, where the nights stay cool. The vertically oriented schist, made of clay and silica, stores water for dry spells, and the average yield is 15 hectolitres per hectare.

Macabeu, Grenache gris and Grenache blanc, picked early like all of the estate's dry white wines. In 2006, three barrels had taken on oxidative notes and were set aside to age, unhurried. Over time a yeast layer, the flor, formed on the surface, under which the wine rested for six years. Since 2008, Stéphane Gallet has brought his experience in oxidative ageing to the domaine.

The opening brings salted lemon, fine apple fruit and beguiling spice, followed by apple peel, peach stone, green banana and dry pastry. Dry, saline, invigorating, 14.0% vol.

A wine for salty umami cuisine: seafood platter as an aperitif, cold tomato consommé with herb dumplings or tart with chicory and smoked salmon.

The name alludes to an anagram as well as to the writer of the same name, whose style was sharp, linear and concentrated. The wine carries exactly these traits. The half bottle suits its character as a soloist.