Blueberries, black berries, smoke, dried herbs. A really nice full body, with lusciously ripe fruit. Great grippy tannins and acid that indicate this could age really well too. Great wines, reminds me a little of a Provencal red.
Since 1927, three generations of winegrowers have succeeded each other at the Chateau Aydie. Jean-Michel Baudet and his wife Francoise are the current owners and opt to make wines with as little intervention as possible: using strict quality control and sort the grapes by hand.
Although tannat originated from France, it is now grown heavily elsewhere. In particular in Uraguay, where it is seen as the national grape of the country.The grape has high tannins and produces often rustic wines with deep, dark and fragrant aromatics.
Tannat's high tannins led to the creation of a winemaking technique called micro-oxygenation, where you introduce oxygen to the wine. While this affects many aspects of the wine's taste, it is designed to reduce the tannic feel.
This wine has had a long maceration of 25 days, which references the time the wine spends with the skins in fermentation. Longer maceration leads to a process called tannin polymerization, which reduces the astringency of tannins.