The Wines of France

Domaine La Soumade, André Roméro, Rasteau

The wines of Andre Romero are quite stunning. Intense and powerful the wines spend only about six months in oak, but such is the quality of his fruit that the body and structure is already there. Un-filtered and gently fined the wines are truly outstanding. He is a man after my own heart, his great passions, football, food and of course wine. The difference is he owns a vineyard and I don’t.

Domaine Roger Sabon et Fils, Châteauneuf du Pâpe

Roger Sabon is now at the leading edge of wine production in Châteauneuf du Pape. Seductive mouthfilling flavours that we cannot recommend highly enough. Try his Lirac for Chateauneuf style at a sensible price.

Château de Vaudieu, Châteauneuf du Pâpe

A splendid 18th Century property making fine reds. Laurent Brechet has taken his70 hectares of vineyards and dedicated himself to quality. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre make up the blend for this elegant, lightly oaked red.

Domaine Les Pallieres, Henri Brunier et Fils

The finest estate in Gigondas sitting in its own natural ampitheatre, made by the Brunier family who are proprietors at the famed Vieux Telegraphe estate in Châteauneuf.

Domaine Le Couroulu, Guy Ricard

13 hectares of Prime vineyard planted with 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Mouvedre, low yield, manual harvest; in all our kind of wine.

Bernard Faurie

1.7 hectares of Hermitage on the top sites of Les Greffiiers, Les Bessards and Le Meal. Superlative wine, but only in tiny quantities.

Vincent Paris

A new kid on the slope, so to speak, Vincent aims for elegant, pure and restrained Syrah which he achieves with distinction. Frank has recently realise a lifelong ambition and has joined a sydicate who together with Vincent have purchased the perfectly situated "La Geynale" vineyard in Cornas, from a soon retiring uncle of M. Paris.  The first vintage under this new ownership was 2007 (highly regarded as it happens). We look forward to trying this wine in late 2009.

Domaine Philippe Faury, Chavanay

An example of the new, open mined, forward thinking younger generation in the shpae of Lionel Faury, joining his father and turning a pretty good estate into a top division outfit. Lionel's experience in Australia has ramped up the quality and the wines are a joy to drink.

Domaine Yves Cuilleron

The most famous and eagerly sought domaine in Condrieu, we have selected the Les Chaillets as with its fat spicy fruit as a contrast to the Pinchon wine above.

Vin Doux Naturel

Madame Castaud-Maurin produces a delicious, dark coloured sweet wine. Lightly fortified to 15% abv, the use of some Black Muscat in the blend enhances the orange tint to the wine. Exceptionally low yields of 30 hl/ha concentrate the almond and apricot flavours of this delightful dessert wine.

Domaine Bernard Latour

With yields of only 28 hecolitres per hectare, M. Latour is serious about quality. Traditional vinification in stainless steel and cement vats followed by partial oak ageing for between 6 and 9 months makes the wine rich warm and spicy. Bottling takes place after light fining and no filtration which helps maintain the concentration of flavour.

Prieuré de Montezargas

Guillaume Dugas makes only Tavel at his 34 hectare estate. Mostly Grenche and Cinsault grapes are planted there and are hand picked. After a short fermentation the must is lightly pressed to retain the vibrant colour but not collect some of the harsher flavours that could arise from overpressing.

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