la petite Sibérie

La Petite Sibérie is Domaine du Clos des Fées's cult Grenache, made from a single 2.32-hectare plot (about 1.16 producing) on an east-west hillock in Vingrau. The soil is clay-limestone overlaid with dark red schist and mica-schist, exceptionally iron-rich. The plot's nickname comes from its microclimate: a glacial north-westerly wind sweeps it more than two hundred days a year, hence "the little Siberia." The plot is south-facing despite the wind, which gives long even ripening at fresh acidity.

Composition is around 93-96% old-vine Grenache Noir (gobelet), topped up during élevage with 5-7% Mourvèdre or Syrah depending on vintage. Late pruning, intensive green work, hand-harvest into refrigerated trucks. Twenty-day maceration with gentle daily pigeage, devatted into 100% new oak, aged on lees without sulphur until malolactic completes, then bottled unfiltered. 14.5% ABV.

2004 was dry, healthy, and balanced in the Roussillon after the 2003 heatwave - classical with preserved freshness and longer hang time, not the explosive ripeness of the previous year. Production typically sits around 1,500-2,000 bottles a year for this cuvée; exact 2004 count isn't published.