Ornate Merlot Belle Vue 2019

Ornate Merlot Belle Vue, natural wine, 100% Merlot, smooth, sublime balance, the Perfect glass of Merlot. There is not a huge amount of Merlot planted in the western Loire, basically this is Muscadet country and more well known for white wine. Jerome has always been someone who loves to experiment and his single varietal wines from Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay are superb. Ornate gets better with every vintage, from youngish vines following biodynamic principles, the freshness of the region comes through buy yields are kept low and so the body is full and lush. A really beautiful Merlot, not the chocolatey kind, more the smooth plummy side.

Jérôme Bretaudeau's story is one of passion for wine and only wine.

He set up the 9 hectare Domaine in 2005 after working for over 15 years at other estates and converted to organic production in 2009. The soils at Domaine de Bellevue are what give it the capability to make hand crafted terroir wines which truly vary from soil to soil. They are are made up pockets of clay interspersed with silica pebbles, white and pink quartz and also some volcanic rocks allowing strong minerality and complexity for the wines. The vines are old and various with unusual grape varieties for the Muscadet area (Chardonnay, Gamay, Merlot, Pinot Gris and others). He uses a combination of large clay eggs and used barrels to ferment and mature his wines. Internships with Jo Landon and Guy Bossard (two giants of the area) gave him the taste for natural wine making and thus since 2009 he has been certified organic. The wines are elegant, precise characterful.