22 Jul Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Gérard Bertrand Château L’Hospitalet Grand Vin Rouge 2017

Five years ago, I was in the South of France at the Jazz Festival at l’Hospitalet. Today is the first day of the 17th annual Jazz Festival at l’Hospitalet and in honor of that the Gérard Bertrand Château L’Hospitalet Grand Vin Rouge 2017 is the Please The Palate wine of the week.

Gerard Bertrand is one of the leaders in the world of organic and biodynamic production. Often referred to as the king of the south of France, Gerard owns 12 properties, one of which is Château L’Hospitalet.

Château l’Hospitalet is in the Clape Coteaux du Languedoc, located between Narbonne and the Mediterranean. The historical property, which includes a hotel, is more than an estate. It is an ecosystem with a natural park formed from the rocky massif of La Clape, an extremity of the Pyrenees, disconnected from the mountain range, to form an island, which eventually became connected to the mainland by alluvial deposits from the river Aude.

Château l’Hospitalet consists of 2500 acres with two soils, primarily limestone as well as clay. There are 203 acres planted to Languedoc varieties including including Syrah, Carignan, Grenache, Mourvedre, Bourboulenc, Roussane and Chardonnay. Sheltered by a cliff, the vines, which are biodynamically farmed, are exposed to the wind from the ocean resulting in fresh wines.

Gérard Bertrand Château L’Hospitalet Grand Vin Rouge 2017 is a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre from the best plots. The 2017 vintage was named the World Champion Red Wine in 2019 during a three-stage blind tasting of 10,000 wines at the International Wine Challenge 2019. The Gérard Bertrand Château L’Hospitalet Grand Vin Rouge 2017 received one of the highest marks in the entire competition, deemed the most prestigious in the world.

Blended and then aged in French oak for 12 months, the wine is an expression of the south of France. It has notes of red and black fruits, spice and garrigue, the bushy fragrant plants such as juniper, thyme, rosemary and lavender that grow wild on the Mediterranean coast.

On the palate, the wine is young but has a beautiful freshness and brightness on the palate, sandy tannins and a minerally salinity on the finish. This wine is a beautiful expression of the south of France and a wine to be enjoyed with duck or steak. The Gérard Bertrand Château L’Hospitalet Grand Vin Rouge 2017 retails for $50 and can be drunk now or held onto for another 20 years.