Domaine Julien D'Abrigeon, Cotes du Rhone Rouge 'Petit Champs' 2021

Julien d’Abrigeon has always had a passion for the living and spent most of his childhood out and about observing fauna and flora. He landed his first job in Switzerland with the legendary that is Marie Therese Chappaz, the pope of biodynamic farming in this country. She allowed him to make his own experiments and he was her right-hand man for four years. Julien continued his journey south of the Rhone Valley and found himself taking the position of Maître de chais at Domaine Jean Louis Chave. His intuition and sensitivity led him to become Jean Louis’s protégé. With his guidance he purchased 1 hectare of old organic Grenache vines in a village called Buisson, in the Southern Rhône, a terroir that 20 years ago wasn’t in favour by the local vignerons because of its cold, sandy soils, uneven ripening season if ripening at all. With global warming, these terroirs are nowadays very much thought after. It is without saying that a certain nearby icon called Chateau Rayas rest on similar soils…

Grape Varieties: 70% Grenache, 30% Syrah Average Age of Vines: 60 years Terroir: Alluvium on clay sand and limestone pebbles Exposition: North Vineyard Surface Area: 1ha Production (Btls): 1200 Altitude: 200m Vinification: Manual harvest, native yeast, without sulphur, pigeage (punching down) and pumping over, wooden cage press Ageing: One year in old barrels 1g to 3g of sulfur during the ageing, depending the wine and the tasting