Abbotts & Delaunay’s orange wine is composed of the grape varieties Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Muscat, Gewurztraminer and Chenin Blanc, from the foothills of the Montagne Noire in Languedoc, a mountain range north of Carcassonne, not too far from Corbières. Here, the warm climate provides many hours of sunshine, while the altitude provides large temperature differences between day and night – perfect conditions for growing green grapes. Grenache is harvested at optimal ripening, when the grapes are full of juice and character. Viogniers are picked when they are slightly overripe, with great aroma and flavor content, while Muscat is picked early, while they still have freshness and bite in them. The entire bunches are transferred directly to steel tanks, where maceration and fermentation take place, with daily pumping over of the must for the first 5 days. After fermentation, the wine is gently pressed and matured “sur lie” for a few months in steel tanks, without prior malolactic fermentation, to preserve the wine’s freshness and bite.
Grapes: 5% Gewürztraminer 31% Grenache Blanc/Garnacha blanca 3% Muscat 61% Viognier
The wine has a nice, coppery orange colour, very different from a rosé. In the scent you find spicy notes of ginger, cumin, juniper, cloves, but also nuances of citrus fruits (orange peel and bergamot). The taste offers a good balance between the spicy, exotic and crisp nuances, so the wine seems full-bodied, dense and fresh.
It is Laurent Delaunay and his company, Badet Clément, who are behind Abbotts & Delaunay in Languedoc. He himself is the 5th generation in the Bourgogne Delaunay family, and thus today also owns the Bourgogne company Edouard Delaunay. Badet Clément actually started by advising wine producers in Bourgogne, Languedoc, Rhône and Provence and later produced wines in the same areas himself. In 2005, he had the opportunity to take over the wine company Abbotts and the associated property, “La Métairie d’Alon”, located in Magrie, southwest of the city of Carcassonne in the high-lying part of the Aude valley (Limoux). The company had been founded in 1996 by the Australian woman, Nerida Abbotts, and the name of the company then became Abbotts & Delaunay. Laurent Delaunay and the team behind Badet Clément have over the years gained extensive experience with wine production in South-East France (not least in Languedoc) and are therefore today a highly regarded company in the area.
The series “Métayage” (organic wines), “Les Fleurs & Fruits Sauvages” and “Les Petites Cuvées” from Abbotts & Delaunay are produced on plots which are partly located on the property where the wines are vinified, La Métairie d’Alon (organically grown) and partly in the Limoux area and at the foot of the Hérault mountains north of Béziers. The property’s original rather dominant “Australian style” has gradually undergone a change towards a more “Languedoc-true style”. When it comes to the wines, however, they have an unmistakable and rather charming touch from Burgundy in them – not least of course in the wines based on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It is the fresh, elegant and complex style that is prioritized here!
