Domaine de Belliviere Les Arches de Belliviere Rouge “Convergence” VdF 2022 750ml

50% Pineau d’Aunis/50% Grenache. 2022 is the first vintage for this particular “Convergence” of Bellivière’s work in their home turf of the Loire and in Ventoux in the southern Rhône. Growing and making wine from both regions for their “Les Arches” line has become increasingly important for the Nicolas family, as a way to expand their offerings and to balance out ever more frequent tough Loire vintages. They are proud to put the two together in equal parts here.

The Pineau d’Aunis is from their certified-biodynamic estate vines flinty tuffeau and clay soils. Yields max out at 25 hl/ha and the harvest is manual. The Grenache is from a biodynamic Ventoux vineyard that the Nicolas family harvests itself and hauls refrigerated up to their winery in Jasnières. The two grapes are vinfiied separately but in the same manner: destemmed; fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts and without sulfur in tank; and macerated for 2-3 weeks with an occasional punchdown. The wine is blended and aged for a year in used barrels. It is bottled without filtration (and like all of Bellivière’s Vin de France wines, Convergence is in a Burgundy-shaped bottle).