Vallee des Aigles, Limoux Chardonnay 2020

After harvest the grapes are placed delicately in a broad stainless-steel vat where they burst under their own weight and the pressure of gravity's pull. The wine is then left to settle and clarified at low temperatures. The free run grape juice is then transferred to oak barrels (10% of which are new) where the fermentation takes place at a temperature of no more than 19˚C and the wine is left to age until the April after the harvest. This wine is entitled to the Limoux Appellation, reserved uniquely for wines of the region made mainly from Chardonnay grapes that have been handpicked, and have undergone compulsory lees stirring, and barrel fermentation.

Boris decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and studied chemistry and enology, specialising in the positive health properties of the tannins that are found in grape skins, both when consumed as wine but also when applied externally to the skin. His enological studies continued in Montpelier from 1993 to 1994 where he met the love of his life, Virginie. They were married in 1996 and continue to live in Rivesaltes, just a short drive from the Spanish border. Boris began work as a winemaker around this time and was instrumental in a major project that looked to craft French wines in styles more commonly associated with New World countries with a view to exploring export markets such as Australia, with great success. He began his own project, Vallée des Aigles in 2003 and 5 years later finally purchased a small winery with 7 hectares of fantastic old vines in the commune of Latour de France in the Roussillon hills overlooking the Med, called Domaine de l’Agly. Today, this is where Boris makes his own wines, and they could not be less New World in style if they tried. Instead, these wines embody the rich resources of old vine Carignan, Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvèdre et al, and speak volumes of the unique and special terroir here. Boris is in high demand as a winemaking consultant throughout the Languedoc-Roussillon.