Few grape varieties are more earthbound than Grenache. Wines made from this star of southern France often taste stony, full of garrigue, and, well, earthy. So it is something of a miracle that Domaine Gramenon has crafted a cuvée that proudly retains that essence of Grenache yet is still so ethereal. Largely due to this kind of paradoxical magic, Michèle Aubéry-Laurent and her son Maxime are among the most respected vignerons not only of the southern Rhône, where they produce roughly twenty distinct bottlings, but in all of France.
      They grow Grenache and Syrah, among several other regional varieties, but instead of making rich, robust wines—which is easy to do in these parts—their reds tend to sit at the more lively, exuberant end of the spectrum. Chalk this up to their devotion to biodynamic and organic farming as well as their more “natural” winemaking practices in the cellar. This Poignée de Raisins—“handful of grapes”—accomplishes the elusive feat of boasting both soul and a soaring joie de vivre. It doesn’t get much more perfect than that.