Vintage 2018 (41rst VINTAGE)

Technical sheet

Denomination:

IGP St Guilhem-le-Désert – Cité d’Aniane.

TYPE OF SOIL:

Red Glacial deposits

GRAPE VARIETIES:

(Non cloned collections, mostly from Médoc vineyards)
– 76% Cabernet Sauvignon,
– 6% Cabernet Franc,
– 5% Merlot,
– 4% Petit Verdot,
– 3% Pinot Noir,
– 2% Malbec,
-4% rare grape varities : Tannat, Abouriou (France), Nielluccio, Montepulciano (Italie), Saperavi (Géorgie), Carménère (Chili), Tempranillo (Espagne).

CLIMATE:

After a particularly rainy first-half of the year, the well replenished groundwater reserves enabled the vines to cope with a very hot, dry summer and early autumn.
The summer was hot and sunny. There was just enough rain in July and August to enable the grapes to gradually reach maturity. The Gassac Valley also experienced substantial differences in temperatures – from 8°C to 12°C at night up to 35°C during the day. This resulted in a concentration of aromas.

HARVEST DATES:

(hand-picked)
14 September – 28 September 2018 (9.5 days).

Vinification:

Slow extraction, delicate pump-over and soft infusion vinification – long fermentation and maceration (20 days at least) in stainless steel tank – no filtration

MATURING:

12 to 15 months in oak barrel (1 to 7 years old barrels).

Average age of the vines:

42 years

Folin: (tannin)

PH:

3.59

YIELD:

27 hl/ha.

ALCOHOL BY VOL.:

14% Vol.

TOTAL ACIDITY:

3.12

A few words on this vintage

2018 is one of those vintages that only comes around every 10 years. Its complex personality was marked by some of the most atypical weather conditions - with rainfalls between January and May equal to the whole of 2017, Daumas Gassac’s fifty-year-old vineyard was able to benefit from a magnificent dry, hot summer, and produce a perfectly ripe crop.

A few words on the 2018 vintage

HARVEST NEWS

The domaine’s 41st harvest began on Monday 3 September and ended on Friday 28 September 2018. 19 days of picking for 50 ha of vines spread over 30 plots. We always wait until each grape variety reached perfect ripeness, offering a unique expression of their flavours: this is what makes each vintage at Mas de Daumas Gassac so exceptional.

2018 Harvest News

DRINK OR LAY DOWN

EVOLUTION OF THE VINTAGES & TASTING ADVICE:

Drink or Lay Down

TASTING HINTS

TASTING HINTS

To be served around 18-19°C (64°F).
Make sure to open your bottle a few hours beforehand, but always replace the cork.
Better still, decant the wine which will help bring out its complexity. But, do replace the stopper.

THE FIVE LIVES OF MAS DE DAUMAS GASSAC RED WINES

From the first autumn after bottling. A true basket of fruit, hints of what’s to come.

Period of fruit
Crisp fruit and tannins to the fore. Lasts from three to seven years. A delicious and invigorating wine to drink. An absolute must.
Period of youth
Velvety tannins appear, the fruit fades. This period lasts for seven to fourteen years. The wine reveals its true complexity.
Period of maturity
Between fourteen and twenty-one years. The fruity flavours fade giving way to tertiary aromas with hints of dried roses, woodland moss, truffles, game!
Period of plenitude
Over twenty-one years, most Mas de Daumas Gassac vintages will continue to evolve into magical flavours if laid down in a cool cellar with the right humidity. A reasure for grandchildren to discover in grandad’s