2017 COMBE TROUSSEAU
Item No. 2085 | Call to Order - Ships When Available

Background

Rajat Parr and Pete Stolpman’s esoteric collaboration is labeled “Combe” referring to the French word for a small sheltered valley within a vineyard.

Sometime around 2010, Rajat Parr became convinced of the great potential for the pale red Trousseau grape on the Limestone soils of Stolpman Vineyards.  We decided to partner with him to make a light red Trousseau and a Trousseau Pet’Nat (the only Pet’Nat of Trousseau in the world).  The first vintage was 2014, and we now have 2.3 acres of Trousseau planted.  Next, Rajat lobbied to plant Chenin Blanc, and the 1.5 acres we grafted gave us our first wine in 2016.  In 2017 a .5 acre block of Gamay has come online, most likely to be blended with Trousseau. 

More confident than ever in Rajat’s vision, we planted Poulsard, Savignin, Granget, and Mondeuse in experimental trial quantities in 2017.

Tasting and Tech

2017 Combe Trousseau reflects our goal of making a delicious, light-bodied red wine brimming with fresh red fruits but with a funky, deep soul.

70% de stemmed and 30% whole cluster, the grapes are crushed under foot in concrete and then circulated via pump over throughout fermentation. The wine then ages 8 months in Neutral French 500L Puncheons until bottled.

Sour cherry, red currants and whole-cluster spice lead the charge on the nose and palate.

While we classify Our Combe wines as “natural” the 2017 is clean and pure - the flavor complexity comes entirely from the fruit rather than from mold and Brett which can often be the case in Trousseau’s motherland.