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Rhone/southern France Producers
Name: Rhone/southern France
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We don’t stock many wines from Languedoc-Roussillon, but Le Soula is a bit remarkable. When winemaker Gerard Gauby discovered an abandoned parcel of wines in the Agly Valley up in the foothills of the Pyrenees, he saw the site had enormous potential. The poor, granitic soils and a climate that combined the extremes of southern sun and mountain rain and wind were sure to make the vines work hard. Gerard teamed up with Richards Walford Wine Importers and together they brought Le Soula to life, making both reds and whites with powerful flavours and bags of energy.
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Final appointment of the day, and the cold was beginning to penetrate to the bone, but our first visit to Cailloux still induced excitement. We`d had a Centenaire `95 at La Beaugraviere, and then a 2001 Tradition at Le Mere Germaine and couldn`t help being reminded of Chateau Rayas - or rather its remarkable resemblance to top-class Pinot Noir. Having finally deduced which property it was (it`s in the centre of Chateauneuf, but with no signposts - no markings at all - and surprisingly tatty), we were greeted by Andre Brunel himself.
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Better known for his Cote Rotie, Philippe is in fact a Condrieu specialist and his constant concentration on that difficult grape Viognier informs all his work. He is one of the Rhone`s more thoughtful vignerons. He doesn`t use more than 25% new oak on any of his wines now, down a bit from his practice in the nineties. He is also part of the St-Joseph renaissance as he is added to the list of quality growers there. St-Joseph is the problem child of the northern Rhone and the addition of quality growers who already have a reputation is immensely positive.
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By far the majority of the best plots on Hermitage hill are owned by the big producers, but one of the few exceptions is at Marc Sorrel. The domaine has plots in some fantastic sites. The Sorrels make few concessions to modernism, with very little new oak allowed in the cellar. Nor do they hold with the modern vogue for single site bottlings, maintaining that Hermitage has traditionally always been a blend – though their Greal is a blend of the very, very best. The cellars are in the main street of Tain, a quick walk from the hill.
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Always a top performer in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Marcoux make a very purely-styled tradition cuvee from old vine stock. They were one of the first domaines in Chateauneuf to take up biodynamic viticulture. Oak use is minimal, with the intention being to supply structure to the wine, while allowing a purer fruit character to show through. But what has really made this domaine famous is the rarer Vieilles Vignes cuvee. For many tasters this is the most profound Chateauneuf of all. It marries fruit from two plots of old vines. lieux-dits Charbonnieres (planted in 1900) and Les Esqueirons.
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Domaines Ott is and always has been a family-owned business. The Ott family themselves are still involved, from foundation in 1912 to the present day. Since 2004 the business has been in the more than capable hands of the family behind Champagne Louis Roederer and together they have made Domaines Ott into arguably Provence`s finest and certainly most iconic rosé producer. They make intense yet very pale rosés and use only natural fertilisers, strict controls on yield and very little use of chemicals in the vineyards.
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`He only makes a couple of wines, how long can this take?` In the end, Paul-Vincent Avril got a strong nomination for winemaker we would most like to spend more time with. The man is thoughtful, strong in his views and very clear in his aims. One can get a strong impression that from an early age he planned a career which led inexorably to the helm at Clos des Papes. Life is more chaotic than that of course,but his trajectory through the wine trade seemed to be an almost perfect preparation.
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Remizieres is one of those domains that has crept up on the market over the last few years. For a long time it produced understated wines, which were very dry and restrained, but under Philippe Desmeure and the eponymous Emilie of the prestige cuvee, the house style has changed. Still fruit-oriented, and still managed to produce ripe fruit but not raisins, the increased use of new oak over the last ten years or so has been a positive; a proliferation of one-off cuvees in peculiar years less so.
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Rene Rostaing spent his working lifetime defending the idea that Côte Rôtie should taste like Côte Rôtie, not like Hermitage, and certainly not like new world Syrah – and making wines to justify the claim. The winemaking here has always been deeply rooted in local tradition, not to mention some extremely well-sited old vines. The domaine began with parcels inherited from two of the region’s greatest pioneers. Rene’s father-in-law Albert Dervieux, and his uncle Marius Gentaz-Dervieux.