Clos Cibonne “Cuvee Caroline”

Caroline is a limited cuvée named for Claude and Brigitte’s daughter, a selection made exclusively of specific plots from the estate’s over 40-year-old organic tibouren grapes planted on calcareous clay and schist and fermented in 300L barrels. Like the other Cibonne Cuvées, Caroline has the structure to improve in bottle for up to a decade or more.

The vineyard, one of 18 Crus Classés of Côtes de Provence, consists of traditional goblet trained vines located close to the Mediterranean Sea in the foothills of the Maures mountains, overlooking Toulon’s harbor.

The microclimate of Clos Cibonne is especially important to the uniqueness of the wines, as the proximity to the ocean brings much-needed cool air to the vineyards in the summer months. Their location at the foot of the Maures mountains ensures good east-west ventilation, which is ideal for the health and balance of the vineyard and ideal for the practice of organic viticulture.

Vintage Notes – The 2019 Côtes de Provence vintage was low-yielding and high quality, a fine balance between fruit complexity and fresh thirst-quenching acidity. While the hot summer and ongoing dry season gave lower yields, the vines remained healthy and refreshed by their microclimate, providing an ideal marriage of fruit concentration and acidity—an excellent year for long aging.

Vinification – After an early morning manual harvest, the grapes are destemmed and directly pressed. The must goes into temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, where the fermentation process begins with native yeasts. Once the fermentation is underway, the must is racked into 300L French barrels where fermentation is completed with daily bâtonnage. Once fermentation is done,  the wine ages on the fine lees for eight to ten months in the same barrel.