89% Syrah, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon. With eleven years in bottle as current release, this will surprise and delight anyone you hand it to.
92 Points Jeb Dunnuck
The 2010 Gracchus plays in the same league and has lots of bouquet garni, tobacco, bacon fat, and bay leaf notes balanced by a core of cassis and darker berry fruits. Medium to full-bodied, with solid texture as well as concentration, it’s now mature yet opens up nicely with time in the glass and is ideal for drinking over the coming 7-8 years or so.
All from Vaucluse, I was able to taste these releases from Ad Fines with their oenologue, Baptiste Olivier, who is behind a number of brilliant estates in Chateauneuf du Pape.
Winemaker Notes
After the slow ripening of the grapes, the harvest date is determined by tasting the berries, chosen for the optimum expression of the terroir and the quality of the tannins. The harvest is carried out manually. Sorting is carried out by chiseling. After a cold pre-fermentation to extract the maximum amount of fruit, the fermentation starts slowly, naturally, without the addition of selected yeasts; the extraction work then begins, gently (shedding, pumping over, gentle punching down), diffusion phenomena are favored. Maceration lasts between 3 and 5 weeks depending on the vintage, devatting is determined by tasting. Ad Fines wines are aged in new Burgundy barrels for a period of 12 to 18 months. After blending, the wines are aged in vats for another 5 months before bottling.
About the Producer
Ad Fines, created by Michel Rocher in 1994, is a 2.8-hectare wine estate on the northern slope of the Lubéron Massif near the village of Ménerbes in southern France. It lies just over an hour north of Marseille. The historic Roman road, Via Domitia, which linked the Alps and the Pyrenees, ran through the village.
Ad Fines, which means “at the borders” in Latin, was the name of a stage station near the estate. The name referred to the borders between the tribes of Cavaillon and those of Apt. The name was chosen to reflect the philosophy of going “to the frontiers” of quality. Michel Rocher is passionate about fine wine and is doing everything possible to best express this particular terroir. His objective is to produce wines of great aromatic complexity, finesse, and elegance that are capable of long aging.
The winery’s owner sought out experts to help make his vision come to life. Michel Tardieu advises on the vinification, aging, and blending of the wines, while Claude Bourguignon counsels on vineyard management.
The vineyard is made up of three plots of vines of less than one hectare each, located on the northern slope of the Luberon Massif, at an altitude of 160 meters. Varieties include Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Serine du Rhône Nord. The harvest is carried out manually, in small boxes of less than 12 kg to avoid crushing the grapes. No synthetic chemicals have ever been used on the property.
Each vine is vinified separately – three plots equal three vats. Fermentation is natural, without added yeasts. Maceration lasts between 3 and 5 weeks depending on the vintage. Devatting is determined by tasting. Whole bunch vinification has been introduced for Syrah and Serine to enhance complexity, fruit intensity, and freshness.
