Château La Negly - La Porte du Ciel 2022
Château La Négly is located in the heart of the La Clape massif, an emblematic terroir of Languedoc where sea winds, limestone cliffs, and exceptional brightness create an ideal environment for highly distinguished red wines. The Paux Rosset family has crafted a unique style here, combining Mediterranean power with almost Burgundian precision in the expression of the fruit. The soils of hard limestone, red clays, and marine scree contribute to the signature of the wines, bringing depth, freshness, and a characteristic mineral imprint. La Porte du Ciel holds a special place here, a true monument of the estate, resulting from a rigorous parcel selection on particularly high-quality hillsides. A rare and admired cuvée, it is one of the great icons of contemporary Languedoc. The 2022 vintage, sunny yet superbly balanced, allows this cuvée to express all the nobility of Syrah in a style as powerful as it is refined.
La Porte du Ciel 2022 is made exclusively from Syrah planted on the estate’s finest limestone slopes, where yields are deliberately kept very low to encourage maximum concentration. The vines, deeply rooted, produce small berries whose phenolic ripeness is monitored with absolute precision. The harvest is done entirely by hand, in several passes, to retain only perfectly ripe and healthy berries. The vinification favors gentle extractions, carried out in small vats, to obtain tight yet silky tannins and a pure aromatic expression. The long aging in barrels, managed with great balance, brings relief, texture, and complexity without ever masking the fruit’s identity. This 2022 vintage stands out for its intensity, depth, and remarkable freshness, qualities that make it a major aging wine, destined for a long future.
On tasting, La Porte du Ciel 2022 reveals a deep black robe with purple reflections, announcing density and concentration. The nose opens with a sumptuous bouquet of ripe blackcurrant, wild blackberry, and violet, enriched by notes of black pepper, licorice, cocoa, and a touch of graphite that evokes the limestone soil. The palate impresses with its immediate breadth, velvety texture, and the brilliant purity of its fruit. The tannins, firm but very fine, structure the wine without hardening it, while a mineral tension brings energy and length. Nuances of truffle, sweet spices, garrigue, and bitter chocolate gradually unfold, culminating in an endless, deep, and harmonious finish. At the table, La Porte du Ciel 2022 pairs superbly with roasted rack of lamb, aged beef fillet, spiced pigeon, game stew, or cuisine featuring truffles. It is also suited to solitary tasting, a true meditation wine where each sip reveals a new facet.
Grape variety: 100% Syrah
