Cerasinus
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2026
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted duck breast, grilled lamb chops with rosemary, and traditional Provencal bouillabaisse.
✨ Technical Specifications
Named after the Latin word for cherry, Cerasinus is M. Chapoutier's tribute to the historic, deeply colored wines of Tavel in the southern Rhone Valley. While officially classified as a rose, Tavel is historically celebrated as a red wine disguised in pink, offering the structure, body, and complexity of a light red. This cuvee is crafted primarily from Grenache and Cinsault, grown on a mosaic of terroirs featuring sandy soils, limestone, and the famous galets roules (rounded quartz stones) that retain heat. M. Chapoutier, a legendary producer committed to biodynamic principles, utilizes cold maceration to extract the wine's signature deep cherry hue, complex red-fruit aromatics, and stony minerality, creating a gastronomic wine with historical roots dating back to the Avignon Popes and Philippe le Bel.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1808 in Tain-l'Hermitage, Maison M. Chapoutier was transformed into a global benchmark for terroir-driven viticulture after Michel Chapoutier took charge in 1990. Operating on the motto 'Fac & Spera' (Do and Hope), the estate became an early, outspoken pioneer of biodynamic farming in 1991 across its extensive estate vineyards. Rooted along the granite terraces, fluvioglacial alluvial soils, and limestone outcrops of the northern and southern Rhône Valley, Chapoutier crafts transparent, single-vineyard bottlings (sélections parcellaires) alongside international ventures in regions like Portugal's Douro Valley. Winemaking favors indigenous yeasts, gentle extraction, and minimal intervention to preserve purity of origin, often eschewing new wood in favor of neutral oak casks or concrete vats. Benchmark cuvées—famed for their tactile Braille labeling introduced in 1994—include Hermitage icons such as Le Méal Blanc, De l'Orée, Les Greffieux, and Côte-Rôtie's La Mordorée, epitomizing tension, minerality, and structural longevity.
🍇 Grapes
Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre