Bruno Duchêne La Luna Rosé

Why do winegrowers make their lives harder by planting on vertiginous slopes? Why have they been torturing themselves since Roman times by cultivating vines in rocky and steep places where it is impossible to use machinery and all the work has to be done by hand?  It was a hostile and difficult environment like this that Bruno Duchêne, a winegrower from the Loire Valley, enchanted by the quality of the soils and the climate of the Côte Vermeille in Roussillon (France), started his project on the steep hills overlooking Banyuls in 2002.

The truth is that this Roussillon newcomer’s work was a surprise from his first vintage. A student of the Burgundian Frederic Cossard and an admirer of Alain Castex from Roussillon, he makes natural wines that are full of energy and good fun like Bruno Duchêne La Luna Rosé. This rosé wine is part of the AOP Collioure and comes from two small steep plots of slate soil lying 300 metres above sea level. These plots are planted with fifteen-year-old vines of the Garnacha Tinta, Syrah and Monastrell varieties that are cultivated by hand with only the help of a horse. He avoids using chemicals that could harm the natural balance of the terroir. Like they were small gardens, Duchêne produces a pure and full fruit that is ready for vinification.

Once the Bruno Duchêne La Luna Rosé grapes reach the winery, they are directly pressed and fermented spontaneously with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Then the wine is aged 1/3 in old wooden barrels and the rest in stainless steel. It is finally bottled without being clarified, filtered or adding sulphur.

As shown on its colourful label, Bruno Duchêne La Luna Rosé is a wine that radiates joy, freshness and good fun. A vivid example of the magic contained in each of the bottles made by this talented French winemaker.