The Wines
For complete tasting notes on all recent vintages, please click here
Every year at Constantin, Allen produces six different wines; two red, two white, one rosé, and a sparkling wine created just for WineShare.
The red wines are made from the classic grapes of the South; Syrah, Grenache, and Carignan. The basic difference between the two reds, is that the classic red wine ferments in a temperature controlled stainless steel vat, and never sees an oak barrel. It's a smooth, easy to drink red that should be consumed within 3 to 4 years of the vintage.
The prestige cuvée, named Cuvée des Fondateurs, is a selected blend from the best vats, that we age in Limousin oak barrels for a full year. This is a full, deep, rich wine with great structure and character, and should be left to mature for a few years in your cellar.
A similar approach is taken to the white wines, with the standard wine fermented in solely in stainless steel vates, for a crisp, fresh wine to be enjoyed young, while the Cuvée des Fondateurs ferments in oak barrels and remains on its lies for three to four months. This gives it rich, aromatic overtones, and very good length. The white wines are made from typical Mediterranean grapes, Vermentino and Ugni Blanc.
No vineyard in Provence would be complete without a rosé, and Allen's is one of the best. It's a bleed rosé, where a skin maceration is conducted for about 24 hours at ultra low temperatures. The result is a very aromatic and fresh wine with taste and colour that make it easily recognisable. The grapes are 50:50 Syrah and Grenache.
Finally, Allen makes one other special wine, a fine sparkling white made by the Methode Traditionelle, with fine, elegant bubbles, which improves with a little time in bottle, and compares very well with Champagne. He started making it for our WineShare members, and has to produce more each year.
