Dear Enthusiasts and Connoisseurs, Dear Friends,

At a time when France experienced an overall loss of 25% in wine production over 2021, the Alpine foothills of the Rhône Valley, especially Vinsobres and neighbouring villages took advantage of their ‘late harvest’ and enjoyed beneficial rainfalls in the summer toward the end of the grape maturation. We were thus able to collect more than 75 tonnes of manual harvest, an absolute un record for us!

The grapes reached perfect maturity without being affected by any diseases. The juice is fruity, with less sugar content than usual, which points to a splendid and most enjoyable vintage.

After a second year of pandemic, we can now look forward to sharing and enjoying wines together again!

Concerning our Vinsobres vineyard, the Mourvèdre plot is thriving in the wake of its fourth green pruning. Our ‘Les Bécasses’ and ‘In Fine’ will benefit in 2022.

We are finalising our four small plots by adding vetch in order to produce our own organic fertilizer. In autumn, we will plant 3 white varietals for our first vintage of Vinsobres White wine.

Regarding our ‘Les Rizannes’ white, we are eagerly awaiting the maturation of our young plots of Marsanne and Roussanne planted in 2018.

With approximately 20 hectares distributed over the villages of Vinsobres, Cairanne and Mirabel-aux-Baronnies, we should reach an average production of 80,000 bottles.

At the production cellar, the first bottles of the 2019 vintage confirm its excellent potential.

Vinsobres ‘In Fine’ was most impressive in the tastings and showed much promise and good keeping potential. ‘Les Bécasses’ and Cairanne ‘Quintessence’ also show interesting potential after 6 months rest in the bottle, they will be available soon.

We are currently renewing our barrels in cooperation with SEGUIN MOREAU.

Top quality coopers Seguin Moreau are recognised worldwide for their masterful use of premium woods and refined toasting methods.

We are convinced that our 2020 vintages are also top quality, we asked Matt Walls de DECANTER to taste them. Over the 3 ‘Rasteau, Cairanne and Vinsobres’ appellations, Matt Walls considers Domaine Constant-Duquesnoy as one of the 6 ‘Key Producers – Top value Wine’, alongside Alary and Richaud. Garnering 93 points for our Vinsobres (including ‘Les Bécasses’) we will have some excellent bottles on offer in the future.

For many years now, we have been convinced that blending two plots, one with Syrah and Cairanne varietals and the other planted with Old Grenache Vinsobres mid-hillside (vinified with stems) would produce a truly exceptional vintage. This was confirmed after our experimental blending of the 2019 yield.

In the near future, we will reclassify two vats (Cairanne and Vinsobres) as ‘Côtes du Rhône’ in order to obtain the required authorisation for this blend. We will keep you informed on the development of this slow yet promising ‘wine gestation’. Possibly in 2022?

In terms of sales, 2021 represents a new record with growth exceeding 15%: we have increased our exportations to the Netherlands, Canada, China, and the United Kingdom.

We wish to thank you for your trust and enthusiasm for our wines.

Best winemakers’ regards,

Gérard & Denise