Michèle Aubery-Laurent has been making wines without recourse to chemical fertilisers, pesticides or fungicides for thirty years, long before organic viticulture became fashionable. Located high up in the far north-east corner of the Côtes du Rhône, the vineyards here benefit from a cooler climate and a more extended ripening season than most Côtes du Rhône. The majority of them are planted to old vine Grenache with the ‘Sierra du Sud’ being made solely from Syrah, whilst l’Eléméntaire blends 75% Grenache with 25% Syrah from 45 year old vines, aged for 8 months in a mixture of tank and old barriques. Laurentides and Sagesse come from different parcels of 50 year old Grenache and are aged for 12 months in barrique.

There is no new wood. The vineyards are farmed under biodynamic principles, the grapes are hand picked, the wines fermented under indigenous yeasts, and there is no pumping, fining or filtration, with an absolute minimum of sulphites being used, and then only immediately following malolactic fermentation. This is the epitome of low-intervention winemaking. Wines from Gramenon combine incredibly seductive aromatics and deep, rich concentrations, yet with striking balance, grace and harmony, a clear mark of an intuitive eye for physiological ripeness. Domaine Gramenon is Demeter certified for biodynamic production.

Michèle has for many years been helped in her work by her son Maxime-François, who also makes a small range of wines in partnership with a friend, a vigneron who owns some 6 hectares of organically certified vines located on clay-limestone soils in Monbrison sur Lez. These wines are labelled under Maxime’s own name.


DOMAINE GRAMENON

Single 6+
0
2019 COTES DU RHONE La Belle Sortie 20. 95 19.50
0
2018 COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES Valréas Elementaire 22. 95 21.50
0
2018/19 COTES DU RHONE La Sagesse 29.95 27.95
0
2019 COTES DU RHONE Sierra du Sud 24. 95 23.50
0
0