Southern Rhône

65 Côtes du Ventoux AC 2009
Martinelle

Grape:70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 5% Carignan, 5% Cinsault (14.5% alc)

This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or more accurately a Rhône-Villages from Beaumes de Venise reclassified after the war as a Ventoux. It is a rich, supple, very well balanced wine with hints of liquorice, spice, garrigue herbs nicely cut through by the tempering influence of limestone. For drinking now to 2013.

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66 Cairanne Blanc AC 2010 Réserve des Seigneurs
Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint-Martin

Grape:50% Roussanne, 40% Clairette, 10% Viognier (13.5% alc.)

The Alary brothers choose cooler eastern facing slopes in the hills to the northeast of the Cairanne appellation for this white. It is a delicious blend with exotic fruits, touch of honey and a rare freshness. Available late May. For drinking now to 2013.

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67 Côtes-du-Rhône AC 2006 Vieilles Vignes
Domaine de Ferrand

Grape:90% Grenache, 7% Syrah, 3% Cinsault (14% alc.)

Côtes-du-Rhône from a good Châteauneuf estate is always a great bargain. Philippe Bravay selects only 25% of his wine for bottling – from the best sites and 50 year old vines. The 2006 is a revelation – destalked 100%, it is really spicy on the nose, with beautifully composed fruit, lots of character and complexity. For drinking now to 2011.

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68 Côtes-du-Rhône AC 2009
Domaine Charvin

Grape:85% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre (14% alc.)

This wine is given just the same care as Charvin’s Châteauneuf. There is a 15 day cuvaison with no destemming before 16 months in cuve prior to bottling without filtration. The 2008 is another excellent example with a supple, elegant fruit and spicy, natural, unforced quality. For drinking now to 2012.

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69 Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel AC 2009
Domaine du Trapadis

Grape:90% Grenache, 10% Carignan (15% alc., 100 g/l rs)

This is a fine VDN with cigar leaf, raisin, prune and fig flavours typical of the grenache. Delicious with rich chocolate desserts. For drinking now to 2013.

* Half bottles are available

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70 Cairanne Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages AC 2008 Réserve des Seigneurs
Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint-Martin

Grape:60% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah (14% alc.)

The Alary brothers believe that a good proportion of mourvèdre (30% here from old vines on a south facing hillside) is vital both to temper the power and complement the grenache. This cuvée drinks well in its youth and it offers attractive dark cherry fruit and spice with good length on the palate. For drinking now to 2013.

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71 Cairanne Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages AC 2007 Cuvée Prestige
Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint-Martin

Grape:60% Grenache, 40% Mourvèdre (14% alc.)

This is the domaine’s top unoaked cuvée, from vines aged up to 98 years, yielding on average just 18hh. It offers characterful spicy, red fruit, liquorice and a hint of thyme and freshly milled black pepper. For drinking now to 2015+.

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*New* 72 Côtes-du-Vivarais AC 2009
Domaine Gallety

Grape:50% Grenache, 50% Syrah (14% alc.)

Gallety are the leading producers in this tiny appellation at the northern end of the southern Rhône. The days and nights here are cooler and this enables the Galletys to capture a little more freshness than is possible 40km further south. There is a good, iron rich, limestone soil that helps to convey freshness and acidity. This cuvée comes from 40 years old massale selection yielding 25hh. Aged in one to four year old barrels for 12 to 15 months, the wine offers ripe blackberry fruit, with black olives, herbs, spice, tobacco and a mineral vibrancy. We also have minute quantities of their top cuvée ‘Syrare’ available. For drinking now to 2015+.

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*New* 73 Vacqueyras AC 2009 Les Prémices
Domaine Roucas Toumba

Grape:20% Marsanne, 17% Roussanne, 16% Clairette, 15% Grenache Gris, 14% Viognier, 14% Vermentino, 4% Picpoul/Picardan/Carignan blanc (14% alc.)

Eric has just 0.85 h of massale selected white grapes, and whilst the vineyard is young, his yields are just 16hh. He also harvests at 7am in the morning to preserve freshness. Aged for one year in two to four year old barrels, the wine is complex and dense but has retained an integral freshness and balance, with intriguing aromas of white fruits and flowers. VLQ. For drinking now to 2014.

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*New* 74 Vacqueyras AC 2008 Les Restanques de Cabassole
Domaine Roucas Toumba

Grape:60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre, 5% Viognier/Clairette/Grenache Blanc (15% alc.)

Old vine grenache (60-80 years old) two thirds destalked is the heart of this excellent wine. It has a beautiful deep plum colour that extends out right to the edge. It is a complex wine with a fresh black cherry nose intermingled with violets, thyme, ink and smoke. On the palate the wine is rich but freshened by a discreet minerality, with liquorice nuances of violet zan (french sweet!), dark chocolate and menthol supported by old vine tannins. For drinking late 2011 to 2016.

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75 Vacqueyras AC 2007 Floureto
Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux

Grape:75% Grenache, 25% Syrah (14% alc.)

Floureto (the provençal name of one of Serge Ferigoule’s three daughters), comes from Vacqueyras’ best vineyards on the plateau below Gigondas with classic soil mix of limestone-clay and river pebbles. It has a deep plum colour (unfined/unfiltered), spicy black fruit, liquorice, herbs, good concentration and yet a suppleness aided by a mineral quality and fine tannins. For drinking now to 2014.

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76 Vacqueyras AC 2007 Cuvée Lopy
Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux

Grape:75% Grenache, 25% Syrah (14% alc.)

The best 15% of Sang des Cailloux’s grapes are used for this top cuvée made from 40 year old vines aged in a mix of old foudres and two to seven year old tonneaux of 450 litres. More intense and backward than the Floureto, it is very dark in colour, and will age very well. For drinking now to 2017.

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77 Gigondas AC 2009
Domaine du Grapillon d’Or

Grape:80% Grenache, 20% Syrah (14% alc.)

This comes from the windy, sun drenched hillsides of the Dentelles de Montmirail. It is a really well controlled Gigondas with hints of thyme/rosemary and game on the nose, supple black cherry fruit, spice, liquorice and mocha on the palate, with a nice freshness and well-integrated tannins. For drinking now to 2013.

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78 Gigondas AC 2008
Domaine Raspail-Ay

Grape:80% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre (15% alc.)

Dominique Ay destalks 100% and then gives the wine a long cuvaison before ageing for a couple of years in foudres and demi-muids. This is an exceptional Gigondas with real depth of smoky black forest fruits, very spicy with a hint of liquorice and promising savoury tannins. For drinking now to 2016+.

* Half bottles are available

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79 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc AC 2009
Domaine Pierre André et Fille

Grape:40% Clairette, 30% Bourboulenc, 20% Roussanne, 10% Grenache blanc (14% alc.)

Old vines, biodynamic viticulture and a well-judged vinification produce this excellent wine. Cuve aged it has good depth, rich fruit and a tangy freshness conveyed by limestone. For drinking now to 2019+.

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80 Châteauneuf-du-Pape AC 2006
Domaine de Ferrand

Grape:95% Grenache, 5% Mourvèdre/Cinsault/Syrah (14.5% alc.)

Since 2004 Philippe Bravay has aged his Châteauneuf in cuve, which has helped retain a little more fruit, freshness and structure, taking Ferrand up a notch on the quality ladder. Yields are tiny (20hh) from 90 year old vines. The 2006 is a superb effort exuding black fruits, liquorice and spice, with a touch of provencal herbs and influence of limestone. For drinking now to 2015+.

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81 Châteauneuf-du-Pape AC 2006
Domaine Charvin

Grape:82% Grenache, 5% Vaccarèse, 5% Mourvèdre, 8% Syrah (14.5% alc.)

The over-riding impression with the 2006 is one of harmony, a natural wine emanating from superb work in the vineyard and the least possible intervention and work on the wine back in the cave. It has spicy, chewy cherry fruit, a hint of thyme and is rich, long, but always fresh with a touch of limestone minerality on the finish. For drinking now to 2015+.

* Magnums are available

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*New* 82 Rasteau Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages AC 2007
Domaine Gourt de Mautens

Grape:70% Grenache, 15% Carignan, 15% total of Counoise, Mourvèdre, Vaccarèse and Syrah (14% alc.)

Bio-dynamic viticulture has, in Jérôme Bressy’s view, helped to balance the soil and to give him the chance to produce grapes that whilst capturing the south’s typical local character, also have a rare mineral tension and freshness. The grenache vines here are 50 to 95 years old and Jérôme loves the contribution from his 80 years old carignan, ‘super in Rasteau, the same level as mourvèdre’. In 2007 he decided not to destalk, which definitely helps the texture and structure of the wine. He aged the wine for 34 months in a mix of older foudre, demi-muids and cuve, dependent on which elevage suits which grape best. Very complex indeed on the nose with ripe black fruits (cherry, plum, prune), chocolate, tobacco, spice on the palate the wine is multi-layered with a real old viney feel, menthol and garrigue herbs, all the time beautifully delineated and fresh. The tannins are extremely fine and the finish is incredibly long. For drinking now to 2025+.

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Southern Rhône

We have added wines from three renowned new domaines this year, all exclusive to Vine Trail in the UK. Firstly the red of Domaine Gallety, whose vineyards are in the extreme north of the region, in the village of Saint-Montan, just south-west of Montélimar. The Gallety family produces two excellent red wines from 15 hectares of organically tended vineyards. Viticulture and winemaking are meticulous. Their approach to bottling reflects this - each bottle is first rinsed with water and then filled with nitrogen to chase away air and avoid any risk of oxidation. Their wines have excellent fruit, good texture, a mineral vibrancy, delicacy, freshness and length.

Secondly, the extraordinary wine of Jérôme Bressy’s Domaine Gourt de Mautens in Rasteau. Jérôme has worked for 15 years with a fervent passion, energy, determination and skill with the aim to produce the finest red in the Southern Rhône. His intensity and commitment are extremely rare and he is held in awe by many of the region’s finest vignerons. I first visited Jérôme back in 1997 and 13 years had passed until my last visit with Lionel in October 2010. Now the wines offer a contained power, textured fruit, wonderfully fine grained tannin, a menthol and herbal quality, and the alcohol has been brought down from around 16% to less than 14%. Every step Jérôme takes is quality oriented: he practices biodynamic viticulture, produces yields averaging 12hh, and carries out a 34 month elevage. This is a year longer than most vignerons in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and allows the wine to express itself harmoniously right from the start. When you compare it to the leading Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a 1er cru from Burgundy or most top Bordeaux, it represents both extraordinary quality and exceptional value.

Also new are Eric Bouletin’s wines from Domaine Roucas Toumba (which means the fallen rock in old Provencal dialect) in Vacqueyras. Eric has just four hectares of vines and left the local co-operative to start vinifying himself in 2007. If you go looking for him, you’d have to be very fortunate to find him at home. He is always in the vineyards, channelling all his energies to producing perfect grapes. His vineyard is split into tiny parcels, protected from the mistral by cypress, almond and olive trees. He has parcels of very old vine grenache and carignan and by including a very small proportion of white grapes, his Vacqueyras gains a little freshness. Eric is a very sympathetic and talented man, a farmer, very humble, who keeps talking about the people who helped him to establish his winery; especially the two charismatic “bosses” of the appellation, Serge Ferigoule of Sang des Cailloux and Christian Vache of La Monardière, two colourful men with big moustaches! Eric already exports around the world and is pleased to have found a way to enter the UK market with us, knowing his great passion for English Triumph motorcycles!