It’s hard to imagine Daniel Brunier doing anything other than presiding over the two domaines he oversees in the southern Rhône Valley, Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Les Pallières in Gigondas. After all, he seems as committed, energetic, and curious today as he was when he and his brother Frédéric took over from their father, Henri, at Vieux Télégraphe in 1988. But Daniel is now in his 60s and became a grandfather a few years ago, so it’s also hard not to think of what succession will look like at VT.
      Meditating on the sixth generation to enter the family’s wine business—Daniel’s son Edouard as well as his niece Manon and nephew Nicolas—Daniel recently said, “Introducing three new people from the family over the last five years is maybe more difficult than it is to make ten great vintages in a row.” This underscores a point we may not talk about enough: when it comes to multi-generational winemaking families, harmony and understanding between father and son or uncle and niece are often as important, if not more, than any of the terroir or technical details.
      Fortunately for the Bruniers, as intense as assimilating the next generation may have been—and continues to be—the reward of accordance has been just as profound. “I remember the first blending among the five of us,” Daniel said. “It was our first big decision together. After two or three hours of tasting, everything was done. When you are on the same page about what an ideal red from Vieux Télégraphe should taste like, it’s done. And that was, for me, a great day—maybe the best day of my life.”
     Today, we are offering some of the few remaining cases of 2020 La Crau we have available, alongside limited quantities of rare older vintages we recently received directly from the domaine’s cellar.

** Our partnership with the Bruniers has spanned decades, and continues to flourish as we look towards a bright future at Vieux Télégraphe. The domaine was recently honored by Wine Spectator, which named their 2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “La Crau” #7 on their Top 100 Wines of the Year list. **