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Chateau Tirecul La Graviere, Monbazillac Cuvee Madame, 1996 (500ml)

Dessert Wine from Southwest France, France
$139.99
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In 1996 Château Tirecul La Gravière sent 60% of its barrels to the second wine, Les Pins. That's a severe cut in a year the estate calls remarkable for sweet wines, and especially for balanced, fresh ones. Claudie and Bruno Bilancini made it during their early years at Tirecul, one of the old Premier Crus of Monbazillac in Southwest France. They had leased the run-down vineyard in 1992, and their first wines were so well received that they bought the domaine in 1997. The site is unusual. The vines sit at 60 to 100 metres on north- and east-facing slopes that form a circular hollow, which slows ripening. The soils are clay and limestone, and the sweet wines come from the lighter soils of the lower slopes. To get the fruit they wanted, they made four selective passes through the vines between October 15 and November 25. The Bilancinis saw this as a wine for the long haul, and nearly three decades on, this 500ml bottle is a strong case that Monbazillac deserves a place next to more famous sweet wines.

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More about Chateau Tirecul La Graviere

Monbazillac has spent much of its history in Sauternes' shadow, and Château Tirecul La Gravière is the estate that has done as much as any to show how great it can be. These are true botrytized sweet wines, made with a patience that borders on obsession.

Bruno and Claudie Bilancini arrived in 1992, leasing about nine hectares of an old estate on the slopes of Monbazillac, across the Dordogne from Bergerac, and bought it outright in 1997. Bruno is a trained oenologist who had worked at the local cooperative. The vines face north and east on clay-limestone, which favors slow ripening and noble rot, and the farming is certified organic.

Two things set Tirecul apart. First, Muscadelle: elsewhere it is a supporting grape, but here it makes up around half the vineyard alongside Sémillon and a little Sauvignon Blanc, giving the wines a floral, exotic lift. Second, the harvest: grapes are picked by successive tries, berry by berry as the rot sets in, sometimes in as many as eleven passes, and yields often fall below ten hectoliters per hectare.

Cuvée Madame is the estate's top wine. It is made only in the best vintages from the most concentrated botrytized fruit, then fermented and aged for about two years in French oak. It ages for decades.

Wine Details

  • Grape Variety

    Muscadelle , Semillon

  • Vintage

    1996

  • Size

    500ml

  • Farming Practice

    Traditional

  • Style

    Elegant

  • Sweetness

    Sweet

  • Body

    Full Bodied

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Tasting Notes & Food Pairings

Perfect Pairings

Seared foie gras or a terrine of foie gras on toasted brioche, Roquefort or another blue cheese with walnuts, apricot or tarte Tatin, crème brûlée.

Tasting Profile

Apricot notes on an elegant, full body. Sweet, but balanced and fresh rather than heavy.