This is a wonderful but at the same time shamefully overlooked type of wine. There are different versions of Rivesaltes; this sweet mulled wine is of the ambre type, which is the amber-colored and lightest of the oxidatively aged versions. For novices, for the sake of overview, Rivesaltes ambre can be compared to tawny port, but Rivesaltes has a lower alcohol content as one of several differences, and it appears less brackish, with fresher acidity and is often more elegant than its Portuguese celebrity cousin.
Haute Coutume Rivesaltes Ambré 1976 is made with the grape varieties grenache blanc and grenache gris from fields in the southern part of Roussillon, very close to Spain. After the harvest, the grapes were pressed immediately after arrival at the winery, and fermentation was stopped with 96% grape spirit when the wine contained the desired amount of residual sugar.
Aging took place oxidatively in old, not fully filled foudres, where the wine has spent a long number of years before bottling. Essentially, the aging itself gives the wine its character.
Aroma and taste have high intensity, sweet notes of nuts, orange peel, dried apricot, fig, maple syrup, cinnamon, coffee and a touch of honey. Through evaporation during storage, a great concentration has been achieved in the wine with a sweetness that is kept in check by a balanced, volatile acidity.
Served at around 10-13°, this is a lovely meditation wine, but also remember that this type of wine goes well with crema catalana, crème caramel, crème brûlée, foie gras terrine and generally desserts with chocolates, nuts and other aromatic components, found in the wine.
Furthermore – and more curiously – it is praised as a good partner for a cigar, as well as a conversation about why the world is no longer what it used to be.
Rivesaltes Ambré stays fresh long after the wine has been opened: months rather than weeks.
The wine can also be bottled and will keep for years with the age profile with which it was bottled.
