The most tightly wound bundle of irrepressible energy encountered on the trip, Louis Barruol could probably power a small village on his own. Where Thierry Faraval is somewhat reticent, Louis is forceful; even his spit is short, direct and accurate. Opening a bottle is a brutal, focussed attack and nothing is put down when it can be slammed. Some might find him arrogant, but here is a man sure of his mission on earth and equipped to fulfil it. I`m often alarmed when vignerons pepper their conversations with references to following the way of their grandfathers, as Louis does, but here there is always lots of reasoning to back it up. `Our Grandfathers didn`t plant Syrah around here, they planted Grenache because it is drought resistant. Duh!` Louis is a contrarian. His Cote Rotie contains hardly any Viognier, and his Condrieu ages really well despite a high pH. His cellar is tiny and chaotic and ancient (a new one is on the way), his bottling facilities are the most modern and precise I have yet seen. And yes, all these details, this passion and energy, find their way into the wine. Louis has a negociant business (labelled simply `St-Cosme`), because he didn`t have quite enough to do. So, he buys fruit from a few selected growers up north (grown to his specification, of course), makes the wine in that grower`s cellar, then, as they always used to do in Grandfather`s time, transports the wine down in its barrel for elevage. No-one else does this because it is time consuming and expensive, but it is best for the wines. (CW 20/03/2007)