The Viognier comes from the same late-ripening source as the Roussanne but is picked earlier—around the same time as Souillard’s reds. It is an intriguing, granite-based vineyard at Sanilhac, near the entrance to the beautiful Ardèche gorge. The east-facing vineyard—planted in the early 1970s and 2000s—sits on a steep hillside at 450-480 metres where the poor, stony grès (sandstone) soils are laced with granite. Souillard works with just 0.4 hectares from this “magic” site.

This cooler site plays into this grower’s desire for restrained, refreshing, linear whites. Old vines, precise picking dates and artisanal vinification make this the antithesis of blowsy Viognier. It was raised and aged in neutral, old oak for 12 to 15 months to retain fruit purity.

Alain Graillot’s white Crozes-Hermitage is a silky yet vibrant blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne, pressed as bunches and fermented with indigenous yeasts in a mix of one-year-old, 600-litre demi-muids and stainless steel. The fruit comes from a 2.7-hectare plot on the deep alluvial soils of Pont-de-l’Isère, in the southern sector of the Crozes-Hermitage appellation. The nature of the soils and low yields from the old vines (now reaching 40 years of age) prompt Maxime to maintain freshness and compensate for the richness of fruit—particularly the Marsanne—by arresting malolactic conversion. He bottles under screwcap for the same reason. The structure and energy of the wine ebbs and flows between vintages; 2024 is on the punchy, citrus-salted and floral end of the spectrum. Already delicious, it will develop more honeyed richness with short term (three to five years) aging.

Bottled from young vines (of up to 25 years old) and some parcels in the more productive, fertile soils at the bottom of the property, this may be labelled as humble Côtes-du-Rhône, but it is obviously a very special one, being 100% Viognier from the slopes of Château-Grillet. It is more generous and more approachable in its youth than the Château-Grillet release yet it still remains a tightly wound, savoury, saline white that’s true to its legendary terroir. It’s coiled and dense, with stone fruit generosity, a saline, sappy freshness and a twist of classy, subtle reduction. The 2023 is a super wine—the best example of this ‘baby Grillet’ we have tasted and an excellent introduction to this unique terroir. 

Like the Château-Grillet cuvée, the Côtes du Rhône was whole-bunch pressed and fermented wild. Half of the wine was aged in stainless steel vats and the other half in neutral 228-litre barrels for one year, after which the wine rested in stainless steel for six months.

A tightly wound, super restrained wine of incredible finesse, this is a Grillet that speaks directly to the historical attributes long associated with this unique terroir. Of course these descriptions may surprise those who know that 2022 was a warm sunny year, but that is nothing new to these steep, south facing slopes. The wine has power, yet is coiled, and will clearly live for decades (as so many Château-Grillet wines have done). For now you can expect characteristics of lemon and orange blossom, chamomile, hints of apricot and honey and a long saline finish with gentle, pithy, grapefruit notes. Some real structure and subtle spice too. Everything is there for a long journey, so if you open this young, decant it as early as possible. With age, the palate will gain richness, and complexity and with enough time it will show more stonefruit, honey and truffle, while the finish will always stay mineral with smoky, salty length. 

The grapes were chilled before being pressed as whole bunches. The juice settled for 24 to 48 hours before fermenting wild (finished in barrel) and going through full malolactic conversion. It matured for approximately 12 months in barrel–sometimes more–before the resting another six to eight months in stainless steel vats. In a departure from the previous regime, only one new 300-litre barrel is added to the cellar each year, which equates to roughly 15% new wood in the blend. The balance aged in second to fourth-use wood. 

The charismatic Rose Pourpre (purple rose) comes from a steep, one-hectare parcel of 40-year-old vines rooted in the schist soils of Côte Rozier. It’s a warm, amphitheatre-shaped site just under the famous La Landonne, at the heart of the Côte Brune. There are numerous stone walls, well known for their ability to retain heat. This magnifies the site’s sunny microclimate and is one of the keys to understanding the depth and structure of the wines that come from this terroir. Harvesting is done by hand, and the fruit is destemmed before crushing. This cuvée matures for 18 months in Allier and Nevers barrels. The barrels are mostly new, but this powerhouse wine soaks it up beautifully. Though never brawny, Rose Pourpre is traditionally Gaillard’s most palate-staining, brooding Côte-Rôtie. 

There are nine Saint-Joseph reds in the Souillard range. Eight are from individual sites spanning the length of the appellation from Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf in the north to Saint-Jean-de-Muzols in the south. This is the only blended cuvée, drawn chiefly from Estate vineyards in Sarras and Andance in the centre of the appellation. Souillard estimated the average age of the vines to be 40 years. Many of these parcels are high on the slope at around 300 metres, facing east and on 40 centimetres of decomposed granite over granite bedrock.

These influences provide a cooler fruit profile and more chiselled mouthfeel than the average Saint-Joseph. The winemaking is effectively the same for all the wines: spontaneous ferment and maceration in stainless steel with a large proportion of bunches before maturation in old wood.

This vibrant Saint-Joseph was Jean-François Malsert’s first wine, and it retains pride of place in his portfolio. It’s a 100% Syrah from two adjacent parcels in granite and mica-schist at Sécheras, perched above the Rhône River at 300 metres; any higher and the vines could not be classified as Saint-Joseph. The oldest vines are 45 years old, contributing delicious brambly depth; younger vines of 15 years of age add the brightness.

Whole-bunch fermented (with no additions), Les Sabots de Coppi was raised for 19 months in a mixture of concrete and sandstone amphora. Resonating with peppery black raspberry, allspice and candied florals, it’s a deliciously juicy and lively Saint-Joseph with just the right amount of supple structure to support aging. The cuvée name means “Coppi's hooves.” Coppi was the name of the mule owned by Jean-Francois’ grandfather, who named him Coppi after the famous Italian cyclist.

With two stars in France’s leading wine guide, Revue du Vin de France’s Le Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France, this is the highest-rated Crozes Domaine, reaffirming Maxime Graillot’s great work. With vines aged between 40 and 50 years on average, the Graillot terroirs are firing on all cylinders. Organically managed, gnarled and meticulously manicured vines reach up from a sea of smooth, rolled stones like the hands of an old vigneron. They are rooted on the Terrasse des Chassis in Pont-de-l’Isère, where the soil was formed by ancient alluvial deposits of sand, gravel and river stones. 

The grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. After natural fermentation, the wine was aged in used François Frères barriques (between one and seven years old) purchased from some of the finest Estates in Burgundy. Since the 2011 vintage, 20-hectolitre Stockinger ovals have also played a quiet yet growing role. This is a beautifully rounded, classic Graillot Crozes with bundles of energy and finesse; a super Northern Rhone Syrah that recalls the Domaine’s finest vintages. A bargain. 

With two stars in France’s leading wine guide, Revue du Vin de France’s Le Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France, this is the highest-rated Crozes Domaine, reaffirming Maxime Graillot’s great work. With vines aged between 40 and 50 years on average, the Graillot terroirs are firing on all cylinders. Organically managed, gnarled and meticulously manicured vines reach up from a sea of smooth, rolled stones like the hands of an old vigneron. They are rooted on the Terrasse des Chassis in Pont-de-l’Isère, where the soil was formed by ancient alluvial deposits of sand, gravel and river stones. 

The grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. After natural fermentation, the wine was aged in used François Frères barriques (between one and seven years old) purchased from some of the finest Estates in Burgundy. Since the 2011 vintage, 20-hectolitre Stockinger ovals have also played a quiet yet growing role. This is a beautifully rounded, classic Graillot Crozes with bundles of energy and finesse; a super Northern Rhone Syrah that recalls the Domaine’s finest vintages. A bargain. 

“Brooding black cherry and spice nose with some olive, crushed rock and pepper. There’s a hint of cured meat, too. The palate is powerful and rich with olive and meat savouriness under the sleek black fruits. Such energy and depth.”

In 2008, Alain and Maxime Graillot took mass-selection cuttings from the recently retired Raymond Trollat, a storied grape-grower and winemaker whose vineyards lie in Saint-Joseph's historic heartland of Saint-Jean-de-Muzols. Trollat identified these vines as Sérine, a selection believed to be an old type of Syrah that was practically wiped out of the northern Rhône when new, more productive, disease-resistant clones became available.

The Graillots planted the cuttings on a tiny 0.2 hectares of sandy soil in Beaumont-Monteux, near Maxime's core vineyard. As the name suggests, the vines are on their own roots (ungrafted)—the name Vignes Franches refers to franc de pied vines. There are just six rows, and now that the vines are fruitful, the wine was made in a single six-year-old Stockinger foudre. The grapes were mostly destemmed, and the wine aged for as long as Maxime saw fit; there is no commercial impetus with this wine—one reason why it has taken us a while to get an allocation!

We only found out about this wine when it was served to us blind by Romain Guiberteau over lunch. We immediately started pestering Max for a few bottles. With so many variables in play—vine age, clone, terroir, yield, season—Graillot is not ready to draw any hard-and-fast conclusions on how this wine differs from his 'classic' Crozes-Hermitage. So far, he sees a deeper mineral seam, and the wine has lovely purity and very fine tannins. This wine is already on its way to becoming another Graillot benchmark.

This Cornas is drawn from the vines of a grower the Graillot family has known for decades. There are three parcels: 25% is from a 20-year-old site on the slopes of the great Cornas lieu-dit Les Chaillots; La Sabarotte (with 35-year-old vines) contributes another 25%; and La Côte (80- to 90-year-old vines, on a 50% gradient) makes up the other half. All are on hillsides where the soils are very rich in granite. The vines have always been organically managed by the owner/grower, Elie Bancel—one of the great characters of the Rhône. Although it is made from purchased fruit, Max and Thomas are quick to point out that they could not manage the vines any better themselves! They also retain the final say on when the grapes are harvested and send their own team to do the picking.

The wine was crafted à la Maxime’s Lises Crozes-Hermitage, save for the addition of a few used 600-litre casks. The whole bunch component was similarly around 25% (depending on the vintage), and the wine was released with an additional year of age).

This North African Syrah (for which the Graillot family consults) just gets better. It hails from the Atlantic-influenced hills of Morocco’s Zenata region, in the lee of the spectacular Middle Atlas Mountains. Fresh ocean breezes and a mix of red and black clay over a base of limestone and ancient ocean-bed remnants provide the right conditions for scented, juicy Syrah that Graillot believes showcases Morocco's surprising potential.

The backstory is that Alain Graillot was cycling in Morocco (hence the tandem bike and palm tree on the label) when he stopped off at Domaine des Ouled Thaleb, 40 kilometres inland from the Atlantic Ocean. A conversation with the domaine's then-oenologist, Jacques Poulaine, and a close look at sites in Rommani and Benslimane convinced Graillot of the potential for producing highly elegant Syrah. The towns of Rommani and Benslimane lie between Casablanca on the Atlantic Ocean and the Middle Atlas. As such, there is a relatively cool climate thanks to the ocean breezes and an altitude of about 500 metres.

The Syrah vines are between 10 and 40 years old (average 25 years). Overseen by Stéphane Mariot, the vineyard work is meticulous, with goblet pruning, hand-weeding, hand-ploughing and no herbicide or fungicide treatments used. The grapes are 100% destemmed and fermented in closed concrete vats. The wine matured for 15 months, first in tank and then in large oak casks imported from Burgundy (from François Frères).

The 2022 has more oomph than recent vintages–it’s bright and vibrant with a silky core of dark cherry and purple fruits, classy oak and sandalwood spice notes. There is lots of interest and fruit depth, yet the finish is clean, fresh, perfumed and long. Terrific. You don't have to accompany it with a tagine, but your guests will probably appreciate it if you make the effort!