Denarius 2019 Liber Pater

Denarius 2019 is a red wine from Graves produced by Loïc Pasquet at his estate, Liber Pater. The wine is not a AOC Graves because its varieties are not in the INAO's cahier des charges for the Graves appellation.

This wine is made from ungrafted vines, as elsewhere in the Landiras vineyard. Ungrafted means that the vines grow on their own roots rather than on American rootstock. This is made possible by the sandy soil in this region, which is mixed with gravel. The wine has been aged in amphorae (clay vessels rather than oak barrels).  

The alcohol content is 13.5%, which is modest for a warm Bordeaux vintage. 2019 was a warm year. The early part of the season, in April and May, was marked by a cool, damp spring with a risk of frost, followed by an extremely dry and sunny summer. In July, temperatures exceeded 35 °C for at least five days and approached 40 °C. The light rains seen in August and September fell at the perfect time for phenolic ripening, and the harvest took place under favorable conditions. Significant diurnal temperature variations, with differences between day and night reaching up to 15°C, helped preserve the wine's acidity.

The result is Denarius, a wine that is both ripe and concentrated. This wine come from vineyards with high planting densities and low yields. It is a wine worthy of cellaring.