Gérard Bertrand : Legend Vintage Rivesaltes 1948

Tasting characteristics and advice for the Legend Vintage Rivesaltes 1948 by Gérard Bertrand

Tasting

Appearance

The color reveals a magnificent amber hue with golden highlights, a visual testament to more than seven decades of oxidative maturation in bottle.

Nose

The bouquet unfolds with remarkable aromatic complexity. It expresses notes of dried fruits such as dried apricot, prune and fig, accompanied by nuances of hazelnut and toasted almond. Touches of cocoa, caramel, gentle spices like ginger and clove, as well as subtle hints of tobacco and coffee, enrich this outstanding aromatic palette.

Palate

On the palate, this fortified wine reveals a rich, silky texture. The palate delivers intense flavors of candied dried fruits and caramel, supported by a refined tannic structure that time has perfectly integrated. The balance between natural sweetness and a subtle freshness preserves the elegance of the whole. The finish lingers at length with notes of caramelized orange, nuts and delicate spices.

Food and wine pairings

This Legend Vintage Rivesaltes 1948 pairs beautifully with well-aged Roquefort, dark chocolate-based preparations, or walnut desserts such as walnut cake. It also pairs brilliantly with caramel desserts, pralines and dried-fruit compotes.

Serving and cellaring

The Legend Vintage Rivesaltes 1948 is ideally enjoyed at a temperature between 12 and 16°C. Opening it 15 to 30 minutes before serving allows the aromas to fully express themselves. This exceptional wine, having already benefited from 76 years of maturation, is ready to be enjoyed.

A historic fortified wine from the Roussillon by Gérard Bertrand

The estate

Founded in 1992, the Gérard Bertrand House now stands as a leading reference in Languedoc. At the head of a 930-hectare estate farmed biodynamically, including 830 hectares Demeter-certified, Gérard Bertrand perpetuates a family winegrowing legacy initiated by his grandmother Paule in 1920. A former top-level rugby player who turned to wine after the death of his father Georges in 1987, he has succeeded in elevating the wines of southern France to the rank of internationally recognized excellence. His pioneering commitment to large-scale biodynamics and his entrepreneurial vision integrating winegrowing, wine tourism and culture fundamentally set his approach apart.

The vineyard

The Legend Vintage Rivesaltes 1948 comes from the Rivesaltes appellation, located in the Roussillon, a winegrowing region in southern France on the Catalan border. This area benefits from a generous Mediterranean climate, diverse soils and regular winds such as the Tramontane, which naturally promote vine health. The Rivesaltes terroir has a centuries-old tradition of producing vins doux naturels, inherited from know-how dating back to the Middle Ages.

The vintage

The 1948 vintage is set against the backdrop of the immediate post-war period, a time of reconstruction during which French wine production was gradually resuming. This historic vintage bears witness to the traditional winemaking practices of the Roussillon of that era and today stands as a true piece of heritage.

Winemaking and aging

The Legend Vintage Rivesaltes 1948 was crafted according to the traditional mutage method, an ancestral technique that consists of adding grape spirit to the fermenting must to stop yeast activity and preserve the natural sugars. After vinification, the wine underwent a long maturation in oak barrels or in glass demijohns exposed to climatic variations, encouraging its characteristic oxidative evolution. It was then bottled, where it continued to age for more than seven decades, developing its remarkable aromatic complexity.

Grape varieties

The traditional grape varieties of the Rivesaltes appellation, including grenache noir, grenache blanc, grenache gris, macabeu and malvoisie, make up this exceptional vin doux naturel.