Les Larmes des Roses Red 2023

Les Larmes des Roses Red 2023

La Tribu Alonso

Les Larmes des roses is an organic and natural red wine made from 100% Pinot (several varieties), with no added sulfites, produced by Cyril Alonso in Marchampt, in the Beaujolais Vert terroir. Classified as a Vin de France, it was previously called "Les Larmes des Damas" in homage to Henry Frédéric Roch, of the Prieuré-Roch estate in Côte-d'Or, who vinified the ancient Pinot de Damas variety. From Damascus to roses, there is only one step.

Vinification

The vines grow on a 2-are plot, on gray granite soils with wild grass. They are Pinot of various varieties (Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Plant Fin or Pinot Fin, Pinot Modri from Slovenia) pruned in goblet form, aged from four to thirty years and cultivated without plowing, in organic farming and agroforestry. Fermentation is done by indigenous yeasts without starter culture. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation takes place in barrels of several wines (seven for this vintage) for 36 months. Two barrels (600 bottles) were produced. No chemical inputs were added to the vineyard or the cellar.

Tasting

This wine, which inaugurates its first vintage, is more full-bodied, less clear than Le Retour des Hirondelles, from the same estate. Beautiful ruby, red-pink color. Having aged for a long time in barrels, it is complex, patinated, polished. Notes of leather, amber, vanilla orchid. This haute couture wine will pair well with select foods: high-end grilled or roast beef, charcuterie and cured meats, Iberian bellota ham, comforting stews, for example a good cassoulet.

Learn more about Tribu Alonso

This tribal name refers to Cyril Alonso, winemaker, his wife, a naturopath, and their family. They take care, using organic farming, of a conservatory of traditional grape varieties from the Rhône-Alpes region located in Marchampt (Rhône), in the heart of Beaujolais Vert. This two-and-a-half-hectare ampelothèque, which existed since 1952, then had forty grape varieties. It currently contains one hundred and forty. This unique location gives Tribu Alonso wines their particular style. Instead of being single-varietal microcuvées, they are quite the opposite: wines by grape family, either a Chardonnay containing all the Chardonnays of the house or a multi-Gamay Gamay.

A biotope classified in 2008

The estate enjoys a unique ecological location: the house and the vineyard are surrounded by intact forests, on the steep terrain of northern Beaujolais. Three rivers cross it, and the vines, close to the bedrock, capture all the minerality of the soil. Organic farming is practiced and the work, in the vineyard as well as in the cellar, is entirely manual, without the use of any chemical additives or sulfites in the vinification.

The wines

Complantation cuvées (and for good reason), the wines of Tribu Alonso embrace all the complexity of their grape varieties and the viticultural history of Beaujolais. These are carefully crafted wines, fermented and aged to the sound of Tibetan bowls, whose alpha waves are beneficial to the liquids. The fermentation periods are short to preserve the freshness and fruit, as well as the signature of the soil and grape varieties.