2024 Domaine des Bernardins, Muscat Beaumes de Venise AOC, Vin Doux Naturel, Vaucluse, Rhône Valley, France.
The Beaumes de Venise AOC region’s wines are mostly known for the sweet, perfumed and delicious Muscat offerings, such this bright, youthfully golden, almost coppery 2024 Domaine des Bernardins example that was on fine form last night with various dishes at a Thanksgiving meal. This intoxicating Jasmine scented Vin Doux Naturel is fortified to retain sweetness and has a freshness to it that allows it, even at 15% alcohol to not be too cloying in the glass with sweet apricot, candied lemon, golden fig, baked apple and honeyed peach fruits, along with a touch of spearmint, almond, liquid flowers and clove spice. We has some of this with Foie Gras on toasts with jelly and without and later with the range of Minced pie, cheese plate and classic pumpkin pie, and this Domaine des Bernardins performed impeccably well and was a big hit. Interestingly, the Muscat grapes here are from some of the highest elevation vines in the Rhône Valley, some 500 meters up, set on clay, limestone and mineral rich Trias soils. The Mistral winds, altitude and mineral rich soils, plus being on a picturesque plateau in the Vaucluse, sheltered by the Dentelles de Montmirail mountain range, just above the village of Beaumes-de-Venise, make for ripe wines, in this case very sweet, but with finesse and balance, as this wine shows. Made from 100% Muscat à Petits Grains, with Muscat à petits grains blancs at 75 % and Muscat à petits grains noirs at 25 %, hence the seductive pink-gold/copper color, with the grapes seeing a gentle pressing and the fermentation is stalled by the addition of grape spirit in temperature controlled vats and sees a short aging period before bottling.
I was asked to take a look at the Beaumes de Venise region in France’s greater Southern Rhône area near Provence and the Luberon that has been famous since ancient philosopher Pliny the Elder first praised the wines here, especially the famous sweet Muscat. The Beaumes-de-Venise is an ancient wine region, most famous for golden sweet Muscat wines, is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. The word “beaumes” as I learned, comes from the Provençal word bauma meaning “cave” or “grotto” and Beaumes de Venise has surrounding hills have many of these caves that were inhabited long ago during the Iron Age. This area, part of the greater Rhône, and in the shadow of the famous Mount Ventoux, is often over looked in modern times, but has a lot to offer, with some fabulous Grenache based red wines being made here, some of which have been brought to the world’s attention by Kermit Lynch, who imports a fine selection from the Domaine de Durban, that I’ve had many, many times and gives me a good reference point here. The Beaumes de Venise village, as mentioned, gives its name to a sweet wine appellation, Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, which are a great value, as seen here with Domaine des Bernardins, and an alternative to he more expensive sweet wines of Sauternes or Tokaji, but It also gives its name to a drier red wine, which until recently called Côtes du Rhone Villages Beaumes-de-Venise, which are now Beaumes de Venise AOC. So it’s a great time to explore this ancient and intriguing part of the Rhône and it is good to remember these Vin Doux Naturel Muscat Beaumes de Venise are tasty treats for the holiday season.
($28 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive