Nostre Pais Grenache Blanc And E Guigal Croze Hermitage

2014 Nostre Païs, Grenache Blanc, Costières de Nîmes, France $12/48

Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier, Clairette, Bourboulenc

A family of winemakers for four generations now, we are intimately connected to our land. By striving to live in harmony with nature we achieve a personal equilibrium and give meaning to our lives. “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

Costières de Nîmes is the Rhone Valley’s most southern vineyard, descending to the edges of the Camargue. Melting glaciers in the tertiary era created the ancestors of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers. Carving their separate ways to the sea, they dragged boulders, rocks, gravel and silt. A mosaic of terroirs, Costières de Nîmes has a very unique common characteristic: the moderating effect of sea breezes. Freshness and purity of fruit is preserved and full maturity is guaranteed, especially for late ripening varietals.

2013 E Guigal, Crozes Hermitage, Rhone, France $14/56

100% Syrah

In the early 1930s his brother helped Etienne, still only 14 years of age, secure a job in the vineyards at Vidal Fleury, then the largest and strongest winery in the Rhone. Etienne started pruning in the vineyards and rose to Maitre de Chai over the course of 15 years, before eventually leaving in 1946 to start his own firm, E. Guigal.

The Guigal firm is extraordinary in a number of dimensions. First is their decision that they will only purchase vineyards that are capable of producing truly great wines. Therefore despite their important production, they own only 150 acres, all in the Northern Rhone.

Guigal vinification is singular in the world of wine, and allows their great raw materials to flourish in the bottle. Their vinification approach actually harkens back to tradition in the Rhone Valley, with long ageing, which integrates tannins and flavors and creates wines of great complexity and refinement. Because of their superior fruit, the Guigals do not make “simple” wines – these wines demand time to come together. All wines undergo natural yeast fermentations, and intervention is at a bare minimum, with no fining or filtration. The top Guigal wines undergo famously long maturation period in barrel, up to three and a half years, but even parcels of old-vine Syrah for their Côtes du Rhône are aged in foudres for six months, completely atypical for the Côtes du Rhône category.