Les Hautes Terres 'Là-Haut' Petillant Rosé

Les Hautes Terres is a husband-and-wife project from Geneviève and Gilles Azam, perched high above the village of Roquetaillade in the Limoux region of southern France. Their vineyards sit among the highest elevations in the area, surrounded by an amphitheater of vines. While Limoux is famous for its sparkling wine traditions — including the méthode ancestrale style, where fermentation begins in tank and finishes in bottle — Les Hautes Terres takes that history and applies it to a more modern, playful approach... at least for this cuvée. We originally expected this to pour much more red, and honestly, it tastes much "redder" than it looks (yes, we’re making that a word). This is porch-pounding at its best: vibrant, refreshing, and incredibly fun, but with a little more edge than your average pét-nat. The gentle bubbles soften the Cabernet Franc tannin while highlighting those savory, herbal notes that make the grape so unique.

We love it with… 🍔☀️🌮

Type: Sparkling
Vintage: 2024
Size: 750mL
ABV: 12.5%
Grape: Cabernet Franc
Region: Limoux, Languedoc, France
Vinification: Farmed organically. 31 year old vines. This wine comes from multiple south facing parcels at an altitude of 1,840 feet (560m). Marl soils rich in small Turritella fossils, resting on a bed of marine limestone. Hand harvested. The grapes are directly pressed upon arrival in the cellar. The juice undergoes 2 days of cold settling in stainless-steel tanks, then is racked off the gross lees into stainless steel tanks. Fermentation begins naturally using only indigenous yeasts. When the fermenting juice reaches 16g of residual sugar the juice is cooled down and bottled under a crown cap. The fermentation finishes in the bottle. Aged in bottle on lees for 7 months. At the completion of the aging process each bottle is disgorged, removing the sediment from the fermentation. Pétillant natural sparkling. 30ppm total SO2, <4ppm free SO2.

For the nerds: Ever in the pursuit of quality, in 2018 Geneviève and Gilles purchased used riddling, disgorgement, and bottling equipment from Champagne. This allowed the Domaine to bring all aspects of their sparkling wine production, from vineyards to disgorgement, in house. To help cover the cost of this major investment, Geneviève and Gilles bottle the sparkling wine production for many small producers in Limoux. While the equipment isn't used to make this cuvée, this shows their dedication to making high quality sparkling wines.