We have been talking about it already last year in spring: The Rhone 2011 vintage requires patience. We started on a sunny Wednesday 14^th of September, harvest was hand picked and sorted, natural yeasts carried out fermentations, late-harvested grapes were put in the vats without destemming and tannin extractions were long and slow.

Most of the wines were aged in oak, with large 3600 vats replacing most of the traditional smaller barriques. Now the blends are finished and the wines rest in concrete tanks, waiting to be filled. The latter will be done according to the lunar calendar, in order to enhance the aromatic expression of the wines.

“Created in March 2001 by Inter Rhône, “Découvertes enVallée du Rhône” 2013 is the 7^th edition of this trade and original wine fair. It will take place in the terroir of the Rhône Valley and in our regional historical heritage.”

Spread over four days, four prestigious sites will welcome you at the heart of the Rhône Valley.

(from the website of Inter Rhône)

Every year, when the cold reaches France, I take a plunge into my cellar to look for wines from Rasteau. Mostly I am looking for the Rasteau from Yves Gras, a wine I really like, but obviously there are other interesting wines from this appellation. But don’t take me wrong, I never said you should drink Rasteau only in winter! It’s just the cold that makes me think of it.

After having opened the bottle, I smell plums, fresh earth and hints of venison. On the palate it’s surprisingly fresh, with young tannins (it’s a 2009) and a long final. The wine is cold, so I leave it for half an hour to warm up and let it breathe.

When I get back to the wine, it’s much more on the fruit, and the tannins are wrapped in mellowness. The crispy acidity stays, from the beginning until the end, paired with a spicy smell of white pepper. Now it’s time to eat! The wine gets hungry. I put a whole salmon in the oven, marinated with black olives and spices, together with roughly chopped squash, oregano, coriander and garlic… Delicious!
Later in the evening, the
wine has gained power and fullness, especially on the finish. I like this, because this one of the reasons why I love to drink Rasteau. Its bouquet is full of sunshine, olives, rosemary and lemon peel.

A glass of summer in the middle of winter.

After three years of conversion to organic farming, we have picked this year our first organic grapes, certified by Ecocert. Having abandoned methods like chemical weed control more than 10 years ago, our work naturally evolved towards sustainable use of our farmland and environment. In 2010 we choose to install VITIFIL© on our estate for wastewater treatment. VITIFIL® collects, stores and processes the residual waters, before distributing them through an irrigation system to surrounding olive groves and orchards. Thus it seemed evident to us to “officialise” our commitment to sustainable and organic farming by a demand for certification.

2012 is an important vintage for us, but also for organic wine. It is indeed the first vintage that will produce truly certified organic wines, due to the new European regulation for organic wine making. Up to now, wines could only be labelled as “made from organically grown grapes”. This year, they will be fully organic, from grapes to bottles. At Domaine Santa Duc we welcome this new regulation with joy and tranquillity. Restrictions like for the use of enzymes or lower sulphite concentrations do not bother us, as we keep our wine making natural and only use little amounts of sulphites on our wines.

Six months after bottling we would like to refer to a new look at our Prestige des Hautes Garrigues and the stunning 2010 vintage.

At the first sniff, the nose is rather reserved, but it opens up quickly, evolving towards intensity and aromatic complexity. A lot of fruit and wild herbs – sweet and sour cherry, blueberry and raspberry, laurel and rosemary – attest the youth of the wine in the same way as cocoa, blond tobacco and cinnamon witness its ageing in wooden tanks for 18 months. On the palate freshness and minerality rule over volume and power, creating an elegant and feminine wine, whose powerful tannin structure though should not be underestimated. Pepper mingles with fruits, smoke with wild herbs, while dried figs and preserved lemons give length and depth to the final.

According to Robert Parker, this wine is sensational. “Its inky/purple color is accompanied by glorious aromas of creme de cassis, kirsch, blackberries and a cornucopia of roasted herb, meat and licorice smells. It possesses fabulous intensity, a multidimensional mouthfeel and a tremendously long finish that lasts 40+ seconds. This beauty should drink well for two decades.”

It has been a vintage full of ordeals for many wine-growing regions in France. After the very hard frosts in February, budburst was quite heterogeneous in the Rhône valley. But due to “fertile” spring weather, full of rain and sunshine, vegetation caught up easily before flowering.

After a warm summer and dry weather in August, we started harvesting on September 17^th. Ripe and well-balanced grapes allowed picking Syrah, Cinsault and some early ripening Grenache vineyards before the rainfalls late September. Rain was rather beneficial to our late Grenache and Mourvèdre vineyards, allowing them to proceed their ripening.

A good balance between sugars and acidity, showing potential alcohol around 14% by volume and pH between 3,5 and 3,7, forecasts juicy and generous wines for this vintage. It looks like every vineyard gave us grapes with a lot of character and personality, which is rather promising for the blending and the ageing to be done.

Under a grey but dry sky, Yves Gras is harvesting the last grapes of his most precocious vineyards in Gigondas and Vacqueyras. The rather international harvest team is meticulously sorting the grapes in the vineyards in a concentrated and in a jovial mood, while Yves bends over the trailer to remove the last “bad” grapes and leafs that might have fallen into the buckets. Few but juicy and savoury grapes for the 2012 vintage, by the way the first certified ORGANIC WINE of the Domaine Santa Duc, in vineyard and cellar.

The thunderstorms roaming around France towards the end of September, brought rather beneficial rain for the vineyards and grape varieties that ripen later and will be picked by mid October.

Although one of the most planted grape varieties in the world (around 200.000 hectares), Grenache is still unknown to a great number of wine drinkers, being in the shadow of the star varieties for the last decades – Cabernet & Co. Probably originating from Spain (named Garnacha there), it spreads all across the Mediterranean area during the late 19^th century, where it produces some highly renowned wines today: Gigondas and Chateauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhone Valley, Priorat and Rioja in Spain, the wines from the Languedoc and Roussillon area, Provence…

Indeed, a great number of the world’s Grenache vineyards are based in France and Spain (some 85%), but also with growing success in other wine countries and regions, like South Australia and in California. Here the Rhone Rangers are advocates for this traditional Mediterranean grape variety as a great source of good wine.

Grenach wines often have a reputation of being powerful “fruit bombs”. This, in many cases istrue: Smooth and pleasantly mellow and smells of raspberry and strawberry… But they can be different, and a lot of wine lovers appreciate Grenache for its ability to ally power, delicacy, high aromatic complexity, fine tannins and an endless final.
To create these wines, you need great terroirs and attentive wine makers besides an interesting grape variety.

Lonesome rider and team worker

In certain wine regions, like the Rhone Valley for example, Grenache dares to overshadow Syrah and Mourvèdre. But even if it seems to rule out all other grapes in the Rhone Valley, it also appreciates good company. In many wines you will find Grenache accompanied by “old” and “new” grape varieties, really appreciating their characters: The fruitiness of Cinsault, the straight acidity of Carignan, the serious tannins of Mourvèdre in red and rosé wines, but also the powerful aromas of Viognier or the citric character of Vermentino in white wines.
But Grenache seems to have a particular affection towards Syrah. This highly appreciated grape variety seduces by its dark, mysterious colour, by aromas reaching from violet and raspberry to truffle and tobacco in old wines, and its legendary elegance that may temper the ardour of a Mediterranean Grenache.
But Grenache blends also popular outside of France. One of the best examples are the Australian “GSM” wines, inspired by the Rhone Valley and made of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.

The Pinot noir of the south?

Grenache has indeed some aspects in common with the famous grape variety from Burgundy.
First: Both grape varieties are grown in three different colours - blanc, gris and noir, or white, grey and black – and their grapes are processed to white, red and rosé wines.
Second: Both are very delicate grape varieties and their entire potential of taste and odour may be only unveiled by skilful hands.
Third: Characterized by light colour and powerful fruit aromas, both varieties may surprise by smells of spices and flowers in white and red wines.

But let’s turn back to our sunny Grenache. It’s true that Grenache wines may be high in alcohol in warm wine regions, with 14 to 15 % by Vol. frequently being found. But luckily for us, the alcohol content is not that important, as the taste of the wine mainly depends on balance.
Yves Gras, a wine grower and maker from Gigondas once told me, that “the secret of a great terroir is to preserve acidity in our Grenache grapes”. Just another secret of great wines…

Finally, I can’t but warmly recommend having a look on Grenache wines. Just taste them and make up your own opinion. Your taste buds surely will appreciate the experience!