Plan Pegau CdR 2004

[Thraz]

I was so puzzled by the information on the label and on the site that I ended up emailing Pegau. They don't know me from Adam and I most definitely don't have an account with them or anything like that, so it was very nice of them to reply quickly. The person who replied was Laurence Feraud, the owner/winemaker.

So anyway, it was a long answer and here is the gist of it:

- The law imposes Chateauneuf du Pape producers to discard 5% to 20% of the grapes grown in CDP appellation areas. The discarded grapes are called "rapé."
- Pegau also has 6 hectares of non-appellation grapes ("Vin de Table").
- Plan Pegau is a mix of the rapé and of non-appellation grapes.
- The mix is mainly made up of grenache, syrah, merlot, alicante and carignan. (I guess the merlot alone would explain why it's not an appellation)
- The Plan Pegau is assembled from juices from foudres, barriques and cuves.
- Once assembled, Laurence Feraud readjusts the wine with some VDP d'Oc selected for the Plan Pegau (apparently non-Pegau grapes). This is more grenache and syrah.

It's always nice to get feedback from producers, especially of Pegau's caliber, so I thought I would pass it along.

[This message has been edited by Thraz (edited 01-07-2006).]