Syrah

600 meters above sea level, in the appellation of Corbières and IGP of Cucugnan, grow some healthy vines of Syrah, Grenache, Alicante and Carignan. They belong to the earth (and some of them have been around since Alexander II of Russia bought the entire Alaska for just over $7 mio!), but are being cared for by a set of the biggest, yet gentlest hands we think any bunch of grapes has ever seen. These are the hands of Guilllaume.

Philippe Combes, Dominique and Alain Giraud, all wine-makers, founded Clos de Barbejo about 10 years ago.
The estate is located on the terraces,clay and calcareous hillside formation, in the Côtes de Thongues appellation. Here the three friends have planted 15 hectares of vineyards with grape varieties like Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Grenache. With very limited yields, these wines are literally exploding with flavor and richness.

In an old bodega in the Parral Monestary in Nieva, Ismael Gozalo makes wines on very old pre-phylleoxera Verdejo vines.

The sandy soils of this area has protected the vines that date back to 1847.

Ismael also have parcels of Syrah, Merlot, Rufete, Mencía and Tempranillo. Ismael’s approach to winemaking is unusual to this rather conventional area, and the name MicroBio emphasizes the importance of responsible farming.

Frederic Mefrre's family have been grape growers for three generations, cultivating the land and selling their fruit onto local coop until Frederic decided to take a stab at winemaking. After a period in Chile, Frederic began to make a small amount of wine in a corner of his dad's barn using borrowed equipment from friends in Seguret. Domaine de Fée's - or 'Fairy Domain', so called because of the proximity to Fountaine de Fées was born. The vines are found in Sablet and Seguret and Villedieu.

Les Vignerons D’ Estézargues is a cooperative with a difference. The group of 10 vignerons in Gard in the South of Rhône share a winery and resources but vinify their grapes separately, making cuvées instead of batches like most cooperatives. They also all make natural wine, which is extremely rare if not totally unique to Les Vignerons D’ Estézargues. Sharing a winery like this enables the vignerons to save a huge amount on winery overheads which is passed onto the consumer who gets amazing quality wines for a fraction of the price of most other wines.

High up on the steep slopes of the Vallée de L'Ibie in Southern Ardèche, not far from a rediscovered stone-age cave, you find the vineyards of Jerome Jouret. His 12 ha of land is certified Organic by Ecocert, although the 30-45 year old vines have never known chemicals anyway. Today, Jérôme's practices are more biodynamic in nature. Jérôme grows Alicante, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Ugni Blanc, Viognier and Clairette on limestone and clay soils.

British born Jo Jefferies moved out to Languedoc to help his dad out with some building work many moons ago. Naturally, he fell in love and decided to stay, later establishing Domaine Bories-Jefferies from vines that used to belong to his in-laws. The vineyard lies on volcanic soils which adds freshness and crazy-good minerality in the finished wines. Inspired by his friends Bernard Bellahsen and Remi Pujol, Jo describes his wines as home made. He says if you were making a cake at home would you add additives, chemicals? Of course not.

Nicolas Renaud of Clos de Grillons is exactly the kind of vigneron we are into. Not only is he a good friend and neighbour of the Eric Pfifferling, the pair also join forces to make Sune's own gift cuvée 'Venskab'. Formerly a history teacher and with no family ties to wine or ownership of land, Nicolas slowly began to rent parcels of land in areas that were overlooked by the cooperatives who were on the search for more productive vines. Of course these old vines and low yields were exactly what Nicolas was looking for.

In the hills of Avignon, around the village of St Remy de Provence that was once famously frequented by Van Gogh, lives another kind of protégé. Henri Milan has more or less been a vigneron since birth, planting his first vine at the age of 8 and taking over from his father in 1986. His work in the vineyard shows his complete respect for nature and terroir: practising biodynamics on the land and being the first in his family to decide to vinify the parcels separately, revealing their outstanding individual potential.