Arnaud de Villeneuve Ambré Collection Rivesaltes 1988 75 CL 16%

Rivesaltes ambre 1988 – White & gray Grenache, Macabeu, Muscat d’Alexandrie

Colour: Amber with copper-like reflections.

Nose: Complex of rancio, nuts and dried figs with a touch of gingerbread

Mouth: Full where fresh hazelnuts, rancio and gingerbread with orange marmalade flourish. Complex wine to be enjoyed calmly, which develops over time in the glass and invites new discoveries.

A naturally sweet wine?

Natural Sweet Wines (VDN) come from a process called mutage, which consists of stopping fermentation by adding neutral wine alcohol (colorless and odorless) to the must. The yeast that is thus inhibited no longer converts the sugars into alcohol, the grapes’ natural sugars (fructose) are then preserved.

Roussillon is the world’s leading producer of natural sweet wines. There we find Muscats de Rivesaltes, Rivesaltes, Maury, Banyuls and Banyuls Grands Cru, these different appellations relate to geographical production areas, but also to different terroirs and grape varieties: Grenache blanc, Grenache gris, Grenache black, Malvoisie du Roussillon, Maccabeu and Muscats petits grain or Alexandria.

Arnaud de Villeneuve is a cooperative located in the town of Rivesaltes in Roussillon. It was founded in 2007 when two old, reputable companies, Cave de Salses from 1909 and Cellars de Rivesaltes from 1932, merged. Today, the cooperative counts more than 220 members who supply grapes from a multitude of different terroirs and collaborate on a large and varied portfolio of wines. The most famous are the sweet wine doux naturel and the oxidative rancio. The company’s impressive and carefully guarded cellar still stores wines from the 1930s – and the prices are surprisingly affordable for wine of that quality and provenance.