Dear Enthusiasts and Connoisseurs, Dear Friends,

The wine producing Rhône Valley and successive vintages have been blessed for at least the past 7 years!

The 2019-2020 tandem illustrated perfect complementarity: 2019 confirms its huge potential and holds the promise of rare refinement to those who are prepared to wait another two years. As for the 2020 vintage, it is pleasant and cheerful it will quickly assert itself as the fruity and supple vintage boasting a breathtaking balance.

Very much to look forward to!

Naturally, 2020 remains a dauting and complicated year for everyone.

On a positive note, mother nature was kind to the vineyard, and we enjoyed a well-balanced vegetal cycle: early grafting with a reasonable water reserve, a hot summer but with no photosynthesis issues and no mildew.

The grapes were rather small before the harvest, but several beneficial rainfalls eventually mitigated this issue.

The harvest period was sunny! We collected 60 tonnes of high-quality grapes, that is an average of 25 hl/hectare compared with the authorised 40 hl.

That summer, we continued to prepare 4 small plots covering a total of one hectare.

After letting them rest for 4 years, next autumn we will plant older lesser-known varietals such as Cournoise and Marselan.

For our ‘Les Rizannes’ white wine, we are eagerly waiting for our young plots of Marsanne and Roussanne to reach maturity, as these were planted in 2018.

This is also the case for our Vinsobres which is produced with Mourvèdre vines planted the same year.

With approximately 20 hectares distributed around the villages of Vinsobres, Cairanne and Mirabel-aux-Baronnies, we should reach our cruising speed of 80,000 bottles.

Clémence joined us at the production cellar for the 2020 vinification.

She now oversees all the vinification, maturation, bottling and shipping operations.

After a 3-year conversion, Ecocert presented us with their BIO certificate in 2020 covering all the wines we produce. Our Domaine is now ‘full BIO’.

The new Vinsobres Les Bécasses and Cairanne Quintessence 2017 vintages were met with much enthusiasm. We will communicate soon on the availability of these wines for 2018.

The first tasting of the 2019 vintage suggests it will be possible to produce a blend for a small quota of Vinsobres ‘In Fine’. We will inform you as soon as possible.

DFor 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 blending of the 2019 yields: an exceedingly pleasant tasting!

We have had to reclassify ‘administratively’ these two vintages (Cairanne and Vinsobres) into Côtes du Rhône to obtain the required authorisation to go ahead with this blend. We will keep you informed of our progress with this slow yet promising ‘wine gestation’.

From a sales perspective, the pandemic, Trump taxes, and Brexit were not easy for our industry. We are pleased and proud to conclude 2020 at the same level as 2019.

This is naturally down to our customers’ loyalty that is in line with our long-term approach.

A big thank you to all our clients, in Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan and China! We owe our success to you!

Samples prepared for the ‘blending exercise’.

We wished to keep you informed and thank you for your trust and enthusiasm.

Sincerely,

Gérard and Denise,