2020 Les Cigales dans la Fourmilière La Petite Pépée

VARIETAL: Grenache Noir
REGION: Languedoc, FR
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
WINEMAKER: Ivo Ferreira & Julie Brosselin

"The La Petite Pépée is an interesting wine due to the winemaking technique used. The grape used is Grenache Noir, a red grape, but the wine is a white wine! This technique relies on the fact that red grapes almost always have white juice except for a few cases called teinturier grapes where the flesh and the juice is red (Gamay de Bouze is an example).

The colour of most red grapes is entirely in the skins. Therefore if you crush non-teinturier red grapes carefully and immediately remove the skins from the juice it will be clear. And this is what Ivo has done. He took a selection of red Grenache grapes and crushed them to produce a style of wine known in France as a Blanc de Noir. There is also something that we love about the texture of wines made in this way. The different polyphenols in red grapes seem to provide drinkers with a different textural experience – one that we really like!" - Living Wines