The Estate
Still a cellar master in Saint-Émilion, Julien Ditté envisioned a project with his friend Olivier Cazenave (Château de Bel) to reclaim old parcels of Grenache Noir. They decided to classify their wines as "Vin de France" to maintain greater freedom in crafting their cuvées.
The project began with the first vintage in 2011, driven by the desire to showcase the aging potential of wines from the Aspres terroir while vinifying without artifice. Over the years, this terroir has proven its ability to produce long-aging wines.
They named their project "Amistat", the Catalan word for friendship.
The wines are crafted as naturally as possible on a magnificent terroir at the foothills of Mont Canigou—rolling low-altitude hills interspersed with woodlands, scrub, and heathland. The initial idea was to work with Grenache, an indigenous grape variety, using massal selection. The project later expanded to include a parcel of Macabeu in 2012 and a centenary Carignan vine in 2020.
The Wine
This pure Grenache Noir, harvested at full maturity, is vinified in a traditional manner. The extraction process is gentle and slow, allowing the structure to support the wine throughout its aging. It is then aged in Slavonian oak foudres for 12 months, ensuring perfect tannin integration.
The wine is racked by sight and left to rest in stainless steel tanks before bottling.
The wine is neither fined nor filtered. Its natural settling over the winter allows it to achieve clarity without filtration.
Tasting
Amistat Rouge is a wine whose aromas highlight minerality, with notes of flint.
Black cherry with a slight acidity emerges next. The attack is precise, bold, and rich. The wine's amplitude expands after a few minutes of aeration, evolving on the finish into a tight and compact tannic structure, followed by notes of cedar, cigar cellar, and balsamic.
This wine pairs beautifully with spicy Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine.
