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2020 Côtes-du-Rhône “Poignée de Raisins”
Domaine Gramenon
A young-vine Grenache produced naturally and released early, this atypical Côtes-du-Rhône is designed specifically to quench thirst while showcasing the scrumptious flavor of fermented biodynamic grapes. The domaine’s organic approach to viticulture and nonintervention in the cellar may strike some as rebellious, yet the Gramenons humbly point out that “thirty years ago, we called that ‘working normally’!” In a landscape dominated by mass-market, technological Côtes-du-Rhône, however, these wines are anything but normal. Hand-harvesting, native yeast fermentations, élevage without any new oak, and negligible doses of sulfur are just a few of the factors that make Gramenon’s wines alive, expressive, and difficult to stop drinking. Serve this one cool, from a carafe, with a plain old burger—generously seasoned with herbes de Provence.
—Anthony Lynch
| Wine Type: | red |
| Vintage: | 2020 |
| Bottle Size: | 750mL |
| Blend: | Grenache |
| Appellation: | Côtes-du-Rhône |
| Country: | France |
| Region: | Southern Rhône |
| Producer: | Domaine Gramenon |
| Winemaker: | Michèle Aubèry-Laurent & Maxime François Laurent |
| Vineyard: | 4-30 Years |
| Soil: | Clay, Limestone varied with gravel, galets roulés, and/or sand |
| Aging: | Grapes macerate for 15 days in cement cuve, Wine ages for 12 months in barriques |
| Farming: | Biodynamic (certified) |
| Alcohol: | 14.3% |
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About The Producer
Domaine Gramenon
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Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch