{"title":"Northern Rhône","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2018","title":"Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2018","description":"\u003cp\u003eScrewcap. Alain Graillot's 2018 white Crozes-Hermitage is a deliciously pulpy and layered white Rhone that we’re more than glad to be able to offer once again. The wine is made from a blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne, whole-bunch pressed and naturally fermented in 600-litre demi-muid. The fruit comes from a small 2.7-hectare plot on the deep alluvial soils of Pont-de-l'Isère. Maxime compensates the richness of fruit, in particular from the Marsanne, by arresting the malo where possible, and some casks went through naturally in 2018 to maintain cut (“I don't have any Chenin!” Maxime jokes). Also, he now bottles under screwcap. The 2018 is a particularly fleshy example of this wine, with good depth of juicy pear and yellow plum fruit offset by a vibrant, sappy character and the gentle warmth of ripe Marsanne. Extremely young, it will develop more delicious, honey-like complexity with some time in bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43299500490990,"sku":"17114-750","price":48.46,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/399767e2-8617-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_17114-750.png?v=1660280686"},{"product_id":"maxime-graillot-domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2017","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2017","description":"\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eMaxime Graillot's Estate-grown, single-vineyard Crozes is a blinder in 2017. As always it comes from a single vineyard near the village of Beaumont-Monteux, only a couple of kilometres from his father's vines. Here, in the most south-easterly part of the appellation, the soils are full of gravel and alluvial stones, low in clay and fast-draining—very similar to the Domaine Alain Graillot soils in Les Chênes Verts, just to the north. This soil type lends itself to a refined, aromatic Syrah with a pronounced savoury profile. Planted throughout the 1980s, the vines are now managed organically (certification is due next year). The fermentations are entirely natural and Graillot Jr. uses only a small whole-bunch component, usually in the realm of 20-30%. It’s therefore a wine that tends to ‘come around’ earlier than the 100% whole-bunch wines that carry the Alain Graillot name. The 2017 was fermented in concrete vats and then racked into one-, two- and three-year-old Burgundy barrels purchased from some of the top Estates in Burgundy. There is also a tiny component (less than 10%) of new barrels that are purchased from the Atelier Centre France, whose bespoke steam-bent barrels are now used at Guiberteau, Didier Dagueneau and François Chidaine. The wine spends 11 months in barrel and is then brought together for three months in large fût tronconique. It was bottled unfiltered. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eIn spite of the dry conditions, this definitely falls into the classical, northern Rhone spectrum. In fact, it’s about as fine, cool and pure as any example we have shipped. What the vintage has given has been some added flesh and generosity in flavour—expect plenty of blackberry, black olive and star anise fruit—but the cool, beautifully weighted palate could only come from the Rhone. It’s ripe yet finely sculpted by sophisticated tannins and bright, lingering freshness. Already superb drinking, but will surely get better and better over the next five to seven years.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43299500949742,"sku":"17116-750","price":54.55,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/fbdadf1e-fffc-ec11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_17116-750.png?v=1658786220"},{"product_id":"chateau-grillet-cotes-du-rhone-2018","title":"Château-Grillet Côtes du Rhône 2018","description":"","brand":"Château Grillet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43300498702574,"sku":"18726-750","price":117.55,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/54e3e99a-5a18-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18726-750.png?v=1660280851"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2022","title":"Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2018","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Domaine has now been given two stars in France’s leading wine guide, Revue du Vin de France’s Le Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France. This makes it the highest rated Crozes Domaine (not that we needed this validation!) and confirms the great work being done by Alain’s sons, Maxime and Antoine. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith an average vine age between 40 and 50 years, the Graillot terroirs are now humming on all cylinders. Organically managed, gnarled and manicured vines reach up from a sea of smooth, rolled stones. These vines are rooted on the Terrasse des Chassis in Pont-de-I’lsère, where the ‘soil’ was formed by ancient alluvial deposits of sand, gravel and river stones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn regards the winemaking, the grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats, and temperatures were brought down to 18°C for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. The fermentation relied on natural yeast and, once finished, the wine was aged in used (between one- and seven-year-old) François Frères barriques purchased from some of the finest estates in Burgundy. Since the 2011 vintage, Stockinger ovals have begun to play a quiet, yet growing, role. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the notes below make clear, this is a handy release for this wine. Max Graillot’s influence is starting to be felt, with wines of greater texture and complexity upon release. Expect a fluid, bright and fragrant wine with gorgeous fruit, outstanding purity and superb freshness on the close. It doesn’t strike me as wine that will benefit from long aging, although I could easily be wrong. No matter, it is already a wonderful drink.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43300516200686,"sku":"18828-1500","price":106.93,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/1b3dc6a7-8617-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18828-1500.png?v=1660280875"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2023","title":"Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2018","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Domaine has now been given two stars in France’s leading wine guide, Revue du Vin de France’s Le Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France. This makes it the highest rated Crozes Domaine (not that we needed this validation!) and confirms the great work being done by Alain’s sons, Maxime and Antoine. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith an average vine age between 40 and 50 years, the Graillot terroirs are now humming on all cylinders. Organically managed, gnarled and manicured vines reach up from a sea of smooth, rolled stones. These vines are rooted on the Terrasse des Chassis in Pont-de-I’lsère, where the ‘soil’ was formed by ancient alluvial deposits of sand, gravel and river stones. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn regards the winemaking, the grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats, and temperatures were brought down to 18°C for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. The fermentation relied on natural yeast and, once finished, the wine was aged in used (between one- and seven-year-old) François Frères barriques purchased from some of the finest estates in Burgundy. Since the 2011 vintage, Stockinger ovals have begun to play a quiet, yet growing, role. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the notes below make clear, this is a handy release for this wine. Max Graillot’s influence is starting to be felt, with wines of greater texture and complexity upon release. Expect a fluid, bright and fragrant wine with gorgeous fruit, outstanding purity and superb freshness on the close. It doesn’t strike me as wine that will benefit from long aging, although I could easily be wrong. No matter, it is already a wonderful drink.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43300516397294,"sku":"18828-750","price":52.32,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/6a1db3ba-8617-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18828-750.png?v=1660280872"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-la-guiraude-2017","title":"Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2017","description":"\u003cp\u003eLa Guiraude is a tête de cuvée, a barrel selection made only in vintages where it is felt there are some barrels that exhibit particularly intense and age-worthy personalities. Not necessarily a ‘better’ wine than the Domaine Crozes, it is typically more powerful and in need of longer cellaring. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 2017 Guiraude is certainly a much deeper, more velvety and structured wine than the regular Crozes. It comes from a knockout vintage chez Graillot, and is a beautifully fragrant, fleshy Guiraude with oodles of blackcurrant, confit cherry, tapenade and subtle hints of bramble and cacao in the background. There is serious depth and plenty of fine tannins, yet it’s already seductive, offering significant drinking pleasure and complexity now. Of course, there is also plenty of stuffing and the tannins to ensure age-worthiness. As always, lovers of the Northern Rhône should be quick. Josh Raynolds' note sums it up best for us.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43300516495598,"sku":"18829-750","price":77.96,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/78ee690c-8717-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_18829-750.png?v=1660280878"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2019","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eScrewcap. Alain Graillot’s 2019 white Crozes-Hermitage is a deliciously crunchy blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne, whole-bunch pressed and naturally fermented in 600-litre demi muids. The fruit comes from a 2.7-hectare plot on the deep alluvial soils of Pont-de-l'Isère. Maxime compensates for the richness of fruit (in particular from the Marsanne) by arresting the malo to maintain cut. He bottles under screwcap for the same reason. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis 2019 is a particularly racy example of this wine, with good depth of pear, lemon rind, cumquat, ginger and hay notes and the kind of punchy, juicy grip not often associated with these varieties in the Rhône. Already delicious, it will develop more honeyed richness with short term (three to five years) aging.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43300516790510,"sku":"18830-750","price":52.32,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/09c744ee-8617-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18830-750.png?v=1660280881"},{"product_id":"maxime-graillot-domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2018","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2018","description":"\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eMaxime Graillot's Estate-grown, single-vineyard Crozes is a blinder in 2018. As always it comes from a single vineyard near the village of Beaumont-Monteux, only a couple of kilometres from his father's vines. Here, in the most south-easterly part of the appellation, the soils are full of gravel and alluvial stones, low in clay and fast-draining—very similar to the Domaine Alain Graillot soils in Les Chênes Verts, just to the north. This soil type lends itself to a refined, aromatic Syrah with a pronounced savoury profile. Planted throughout the 1980s, the vines are now managed organically (certification is due next year). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eThe fermentations are entirely natural and Graillot Jr. uses only a small whole-bunch component, usually in the realm of 20-30%. It’s therefore a wine that tends to ‘come around’ earlier than the 100% whole-bunch wines that carry the Alain Graillot name. The 2018 was fermented in concrete vats and then racked into one-, two- and three-year-old Burgundy barrels purchased from some of the top Estates in Burgundy. There is also a tiny component (less than 10%) of new barrels that are purchased from the Atelier Centre France (whose bespoke steam-bent barrels are now used at Guiberteau, Didier Dagueneau and François Chidaine). The wine spent 11 months in barrel and was then brought together for three months in large fût tronconique. It was bottled unfiltered.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43300516823278,"sku":"18831-750","price":49.51,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/6874a076-fffc-ec11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18831-750.png?v=1658786314"},{"product_id":"equis-cornas-2016","title":"Equis Cornas 2016","description":"\u003cp\u003eOrganic. Equis is the boutique négoce label of Maxime Graillot and his long-term friend and winemaking partner Thomas Schmittel. There are three wines in the range (the Crozes-Hermitage Equinoxe being the more well-known). Each crop is sourced from a roster of first-rate, mature vineyards where Graillot and Schmittel have a close working relationship with the grower. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis Cornas is drawn from the vines of a grower known to the Graillot family for a long time. 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 hillside sites 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 as to when the grapes are harvested and send their own team in to do the picking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe wine is crafted à la the Lises Crozes, save for the addition of a few used, 600-litre casks. The whole bunch component is similarly around 25% (depending on the vintage) and the wine is released with an additional year of age (bottled unfiltered). While the wine is deep and dense, it is also wonderfully pure-fruited, with fleshy, ripe fruit, and a hedonistic yet wonderfully balanced palate with vibrant, sappy freshness and powdery tannins. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe wine is crafted à la the Lises Crozes, save for the addition of a few used, 600-litre casks. The whole bunch component is similarly around 25% (depending on the vintage) and the wine is released with an additional year of age (bottled unfiltered). While the wine is deep and dense, it is also wonderfully pure-fruited, with fleshy, ripe fruit, and a hedonistic yet wonderfully balanced palate with vibrant, sappy freshness and powdery tannins.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43300517839086,"sku":"18832-750","price":88.04,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/7747701a-e0fc-ec11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18832-750.png?v=1658786316"},{"product_id":"chateau-grillet-cotes-du-rhone-2019","title":"Château-Grillet Côtes du Rhône 2019","description":"","brand":"Château Grillet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43301858836718,"sku":"20187-750","price":121.87,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/cde1d07d-5a18-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_20187-750.png?v=1660281176"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2024","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eNow 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 and reaffirms the great work being done by Maxime Graillot. With an average vine age of between 40 and 50 years, the Graillot terroirs are now humming on all cylinders. Organically managed, gnarled and 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-I’lsère, where the ‘soil’ was formed by ancient alluvial deposits of sand, gravel and river stones. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith regards to the winemaking, the organically farmed grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. After a natural yeast fermentation, the wine was aged in used François Frères barriques (between one- and seven-year-old) purchased from some of the finest estates in Burgundy. Since the 2011 vintage, 20-hectolitre Stockinger ovals have also begun to play a quiet, yet growing, role. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn from low yields, the 2019 is a wine of considerable depth and intensity of flavour. Swirling aromas of fresh black and blue fruits are tinged with violet, black olive and pepper. The palate is full of verve and silky concentration, balanced by fine structure. There’s real energy here and despite the grape’s thick skins, the tannins are rounded. It’s going to age very well yet it’s already seductive. Stunning!  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302656278766,"sku":"20441-1500","price":109.48,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/08d1fbc1-8617-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_20441-1500.png?v=1660281363"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2025","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eNow 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 and reaffirms the great work being done by Maxime Graillot. With an average vine age of between 40 and 50 years, the Graillot terroirs are now humming on all cylinders. Organically managed, gnarled and 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-I’lsère, where the ‘soil’ was formed by ancient alluvial deposits of sand, gravel and river stones. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith regards to the winemaking, the organically farmed grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. After a natural yeast fermentation, the wine was aged in used François Frères barriques (between one- and seven-year-old) purchased from some of the finest estates in Burgundy. Since the 2011 vintage, 20-hectolitre Stockinger ovals have also begun to play a quiet, yet growing, role.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn from low yields, the 2019 is a wine of considerable depth and intensity of flavour. Swirling aromas of fresh black and blue fruits are tinged with violet, black olive and pepper. The palate is full of verve and silky concentration, balanced by fine structure. There’s real energy here and despite the grape’s thick skins, the tannins are rounded. It’s going to age very well yet it’s already seductive. Stunning!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302656344302,"sku":"20441-750","price":54.15,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/804089d4-8617-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_20441-750.png?v=1660281366"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-la-guiraude-2018","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2018","description":"\u003cp\u003eConsidered by many to be the benchmark for Crozes-Hermitage, the limited production La Guiraude is Graillot’s tête de cuvée—a barrel selection, made only in vintages where it is felt there are some that exhibit particularly intense and age-worthy personalities. It’s a barrel selection, so the winemaking is the same as the classic Crozes, although the chosen casks are left for a longer aging in both barrel and bottle. The Graillot’s are quick to point out that La Guiraude is not seen as necessarily a better wine than the Domaine’s Crozes, instead it is typically more powerful and can require longer cellaring. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2018 at this address was another low-yielding, warm year that, nonetheless, gifted superb quality. Good rains over the winter had replenished the soils and prepared the vines for the warm summer ahead. When expertly managed, Syrah can thrive in heat and sunshine and 2018 was the kind of vintage where the quality of the terroir (not to mention the skill of the grower) truly counted. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGraillot’s flagship is packed with deep blue fruits, exotic spices, bloody minerality, anise, black olive and ironstone. The mouthfeel is slinky and supple, yet dense and strikes an exquisite balance between powerful fruit, plentiful tannins and perfectly pitched acidity. It’s a wine of quiet power: vin de Garde in the classic Graillot mould—a deep, dark, fleshy La Guiraude, with something of Cornas in the fruit spectrum. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough I agree with the note below that the wine will age, I find it to be drinking well already. It’s plump, hedonistic and immediately delicious. Strictly speaking, the only time required is to gather your finest friends and organise some appropriate food.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302656377070,"sku":"20442-750","price":78.42,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/de401f1a-8717-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_20442-750.png?v=1660281370"},{"product_id":"alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2020","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eScrewcap. Alain Graillot’s 2020 white Crozes-Hermitage is a deliciously silky yet vibrant blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne, whole-bunch pressed and naturally fermented in a mix of one-year-old 600-liter 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) means that Maxime compensates for the richness of fruit (in particular from the Marsanne) by arresting the malo to maintain freshness. He bottles under screwcap for the same reason. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's a beautifully textured release with a pithy, grapefruit personality balanced by wonderfully vibrant acidity and some fine phenolic grip carrying the length of the palate. Undoubtedly one of the best examples we have seen of this wine. It’s both more textural and complex, yet somehow more punchy, racy and moreish. Great work Max!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302656442606,"sku":"20443-750","price":54.15,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/35f45bfd-8617-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_20443-750.png?v=1660281373"},{"product_id":"equis-equinoxe-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2020","title":"Equis Equinoxe Crozes Hermitage Rouge 2020","description":"\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eThese days this wine is sourced primarily from a mature, gravelly, organically farmed site in Pont de l'Isère that has not seen any herbicides or pesticides for 10 years. This site is owned and managed by a good friend and neighbour of the Graillot clan and the vigneron and producer work very closely together. It is this recent collaboration that has seen the Equinoxe cuvée reach ever-greater heights. Roughly 80% de-stemmed, the wine was fermented in concrete tank and large wooden tronconique vats (with a degree of carbonic maceration) and aged (also in tronconique vats) for nine months. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302656475374,"sku":"20444-750","price":32.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/2b417a2f-f43e-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_20444-750.png?v=1664348865"},{"product_id":"maxime-graillot-domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2019","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eMaxime Graillot's estate-grown, single-vineyard Crozes is a blinder in 2019. As always it comes from a single vineyard near the village of Beaumont-Monteux, only a couple of kilometres from his father's vines. Here, in the most south-easterly part of the appellation, the soils are full of gravel and alluvial stones, low in clay and fast-draining—very similar to the Domaine Alain Graillot soils in Les Chênes Verts, just to the north. This soil type lends itself to a refined, aromatic Syrah with a pronounced savoury profile. Planted throughout the 1980s, the vines are now managed organically (certification is due next year). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fermentations are entirely natural and Graillot Jr. uses only a small whole-bunch component, usually in the realm of 20-30%. It is therefore a wine that tends to ‘come around’ earlier than the 100% whole-bunch wines that carry the Alain Graillot name. The 2019 was fermented in concrete vats and then racked into one, two and three-year-old Burgundy barrels purchased from some of the top estates in Burgundy. There is also a tiny component (less than 10%) of new barrels that are purchased from the Atelier Centre France (whose bespoke steam-bent barrels are now used at Guiberteau, Didier Dagueneau and François Chidaine). The wine spent 11 months in barrel and was then brought together for three months in large fût tronconique. It was bottled unfiltered.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302656508142,"sku":"20445-750","price":52.64,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/749e4ac4-0d16-ee11-ab3d-0a0c589e3996_20445-750.png?v=1687996569"},{"product_id":"bernard-faurie-hermitage-bessards-meal-2019","title":"Bernard Faurie Hermitage Bessards Méal 2019","description":"\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eGold capsule. Faurie farms just 0.2 hectares of Le Méal, which was planted in the 1940s. As the name suggests, in 2019 this was blended with selected parcels from his near-100-year-old vineyard at Les Bessards. With its direct southerly exposure Le Méal is perhaps the hill’s warmest site, and produces the most layered and hedonistic wine of the area. Faurie calls the wines from here “vin noblesse”, in this blend providing the opulence and texture. The Bessards component gives “the skeleton”—the wine’s structure and mineral drive—as well as lifted perfume. This particular blend is roughly 60% Les Bessards and 40% Le Méal, assembled at harvest time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eAs for all of Faurie’s reds, this was 100% whole-bunch, and the winemaking was the same as for the wine above. It was bottled unfiltered, by hand, from two used demi-muids. Faurie describes this wine as “une force” and he’s right. It’s a Hermitage of devastating intensity and power, with more depth and a darker fruit profile than the wine above. Decades will not weary it!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bernard Faurie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302683640046,"sku":"20769-750","price":197.79,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/b873d3f6-f923-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_20769-750.png?v=1661401606"},{"product_id":"chateau-grillet-2016","title":"Château-Grillet 2016","description":"","brand":"Château Grillet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302813270254,"sku":"18350-750","price":713.57,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/24b69845-5a18-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18350-750.png?v=1660280785"},{"product_id":"chateau-grillet-2017","title":"Château-Grillet 2017","description":"","brand":"Château Grillet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302816219374,"sku":"18725-750","price":713.5,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/49f00d52-5a18-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_18725-750.png?v=1660280848"},{"product_id":"chateau-grillet-2018","title":"Château-Grillet 2018","description":"","brand":"Château Grillet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43302828769518,"sku":"20186-750","price":733.57,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/f5afab6a-5a18-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_20186-750.png?v=1660281173"},{"product_id":"equis-equinoxe-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2021","title":"Equis Equinoxe Crozes Hermitage Rouge 2019","description":"\u003cp class=\"richp\"\u003eThese days this wine is sourced primarily from a mature, gravelly, organically farmed site in Pont de l'Isère that has not seen any herbicides or pesticides for 10 years. This site is owned and managed by a good friend and neighbour of the Graillot clan, and the vigneron and producer work very closely together. It is this recent collaboration that has seen the Equinoxe cuvée reach ever-greater heights. Roughly 80% de-stemmed, the wine was fermented in concrete tank and large wooden tronconique vats (with a degree of carbonic maceration) and aged (also in tronconique vats) for nine months.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43323959935214,"sku":"19456-750","price":30.37,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/products\/8652dd45-e929-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_19456-750.png?v=1662085770"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-la-guiraude-2019","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2019","description":"\u003cp\u003eConsidered by many to be the benchmark for Crozes-Hermitage, the limited production La Guiraude is Graillot’s tête de cuvée—made only in vintages where it is felt there are some that exhibit particularly intense and age-worthy personalities. It’s a barrel selection, so the winemaking is the same as the classic Crozes, although the chosen casks are left for longer aging in both barrel and bottle. The Graillot’s are quick to point out that La Guiraude is not seen as necessarily a better wine than the domaine’s Crozes, instead it is typically more powerful and can require longer cellaring. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf 2019 was a year when hard work in the vineyards would be crucial to ensure healthy, balanced grapes, then this iconic domaine was up for the fight. To capture the freshness and precision he desired, Maxime Graillot harvested a little earlier than in 2018, “What I want is kind of crunchy, not jammy,” he says. Very similar to what we have seen from the Burgundies of this year, the 2019 La Guiraude is remarkably pure, vibrant and lifted (and only 13.5% abv). It shows intensity and depth, yet also demonstrates bright perfume, vineyard clarity and superb balance. You would never guess it to be a low-yielding, dry year. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlongside this wine’s classic markers of bloody minerality, anise, black olive and ironstone, the 2019 is packed with ripe forest berries framed by plentiful tannins and chalky freshness. At once, silky and svelte yet also muscular and dense, there’s a hint of Hermitage going on this year; it’s a La Guiraude for the ages. If you are going to drink it young, grab the decanter, gather your finest friends and organise some appropriate food. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44062884692206,"sku":"21881-750","price":82.42,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/77ac4c59-97e4-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_21881-750.png?v=1687849293"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2021","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eScrewcap. Alain Graillot’s 2021 white Crozes-Hermitage is a deliciously silky yet vibrant blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne, whole-bunch pressed and naturally fermented in a mix of one-year-old 600-liter 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) means that Maxime compensates for the richness of fruit, in particular from the Marsanne, by arresting the malo to maintain freshness. He bottles under screwcap for the same reason. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's a beautifully textured release with scents of stone fruits, apricots and honey blossom underscored by a complexing kernel nuttiness. The palate is beautifully flighted with the silky flow of succulent fruit deftly balanced by zesty acidity and a fine phenolic grip that carries the length of the palate. Don’t be afraid to decant and serve with boldly spiced fish or poultry dishes. It’s a knockout.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44062884724974,"sku":"21882-750","price":58.19,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/4371a0c2-97e4-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_21882-750.png?v=1687849296"},{"product_id":"equis-equinoxe-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2022","title":"Equis Equinoxe Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eMaxime Graillot and Thomas Schmittel’s nouveau-style Crozes is sourced primarily from a mature, gravelly, organically farmed site in Pont de l’Isère. This site is owned and managed by a good friend and neighbour of the Graillot clan, and the vigneron and producer work very closely together. It is this collaboration that has seen the Equinoxe cuvée reach ever-greater heights. Roughly 80% de-stemmed, the wine is fermented in concrete tanks and large wooden tronconique vats (with a degree of carbonic maceration) and aged for nine months in the same vessel. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough Graillot tells us that he wants this to be a “hyper-light wine”, it is never light in the negative sense of the word. There is too much intensity for that. Instead, it’s an exuberantly fruity, delicious, drink-it-straight-from-the-bottle kind of Crozes with agile tannins and plenty of acidity for focus. Leaping out of the glass, the newly minted 2021 is flush with perfumes of berries, sweet spice, earth and an enticing mineral accent. On the palate, it’s bright, refreshing, and dripping with svelte red fruits mopped up by the crunchy acidity and twist of salinity. It closes long and vibrant with a lick of piquant spice and anise. It’s a delicious reminder of how close the Northern Rhône is to Beaujolais—and not just in terms of distance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44145761059054,"sku":"22123-750","price":38.85,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/f4329f3c-b7e7-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_22123-750.png?v=1682910227"},{"product_id":"domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2020","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs always, Maxime’s estate Crozes comes from a grouping of vineyards near the village of Beaumont-Monteux, only a couple of kilometres from his father’s vines. The lieu-dits are called Les Bosquets and Les Pichères. Here, in the most south-easterly part of the appellation, the soils are full of gravel and alluvial stones, low in clay and fast-draining—very similar to the Domaine Alain Graillot soils in Les Chênes Verts, just to the north. This soil type lends itself to a refined, aromatic Syrah with a pronounced savoury profile. Planted throughout the 1980s, the vines are now managed organically (certification is due soon). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fermentations are entirely natural, and Graillot Jr. uses only a small whole-bunch component, usually in the realm of 20-30%. It is, therefore, a wine that tends to ‘come around’ earlier than the 100% whole-bunch wines that carry the Alain Graillot name. The 2020 was fermented in concrete vats and then racked into one, two and three-year-old Burgundy barrels—purchased from some of the top estates—and 12-hectolitre Stockinger cask. There is also a tiny component (less than 10%) of new barrels purchased from the Atelier Centre France, whose bespoke steam-bent barrels are now used at Guiberteau, Didier Dagueneau and François Chidaine. The wine spent 11 months in barrel and was brought together for three months in large fût tronconique. It is bottled unfiltered. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe acronym John Livingstone Learmonth uses in his note below, “w.o.w”, stands for “what one wants”. In John’s words, a w.o.w wine “is a wine that immediately declares its pleasure. It provides immediate joie and lends to conviviality among friends, or breaks the ice with strangers.” Spot on. There’s an engaging buoyancy this year, even if there is a wealth of punchy flavour and spice-licked fruit. Berry fruits, florals, spice and mineral aromas lead to a palate flush with measured ripeness, tight-grained and beautifully integrated tannins, snappy acidity and a densely compact and multi-layered mouthfeel. The finish is prolonged and studded with notes of graphitic minerals and more spice. At just 13% abv, it is not as deep as 2019 from the same sites, yet nonetheless, it makes for some delicious drinking young. As Alain once said, “The vintage changes, but the spirit remains the same.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44145769545966,"sku":"22124-750","price":57.06,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/a7410c09-b9e7-ed11-ab3d-024d026f405e_22124-750.png?v=1682910231"},{"product_id":"domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2021","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Les Pends lieu-dit is one of the very finest for white in Crozes-Hermitage. Maxime Graillot had been waiting and waiting to get a parcel and finally succeeded in 2014. It’s a sloping, south-facing hillside on white clay and chalk described by Rhône authority John Livingstone-Learmonth as a “high, high-quality terroir”. The site’s appeal lies in its ability to ripen its fruit while retaining a mouth-watering structure courtesy of the limestone-rich soils. Simply, Les Pends is one of the most coveted terroirs in the region for white grapes, and Maxime’s wine—full of alluring floral fruit and stony intensity—explains why. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGraillot owns just 0.4 hectares of 40-year-old vines densely planted to 75% Marsanne and 25% Roussanne. The grapes are whole bunch-pressed, spontaneously fermented and raised in 600-litre demi-muid and a 300-litre cigar. Unlike the Domaine Alain Graillot white—grown on the deep alluvial soils of Pont-de-l’Isère—Graillot does not block the malolactic conversion; the limestone soils provide enough freshness and tension. The 2021 is a seriously classy white Crozes—fleshy yet racy, floral and honeyed and with a long juicy close. A fabulous white Rhône.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44145769611502,"sku":"22125-750","price":85.33,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/8b3ba711-b9e7-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_22125-750.png?v=1682910235"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2020","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eNow 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 and reaffirms the great work being done by Maxime Graillot. With an average vine age of between 40 and 50 years, the Graillot terroirs are now 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith regards to the winemaking, the organically farmed grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. After a natural yeast 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 begun to play a quiet, yet growing, role. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt this young stage, it’s a Syrah of super-charged aromatic intensity, with dark berries, purple florals and warm spices mingling with the vineyard’s soil-to-glass ferrous and mineral tones. The palate, suave and long, builds in the mouth with a similar intensity of black olive, smoky charcuterie and graphite mineral tang, carried by seamless texture and a charge of energy and flavour at the finish. It will only get better and better with some age, but right now it’s already a flat-out charming and delicious Graillot thoroughbred.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44216276451566,"sku":"21880-750","price":58.19,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/06fb7897-97e4-ed11-ab3d-0ac90280dbea_21880-750.png?v=1687840875"},{"product_id":"domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2021","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs always, Maxime’s estate Crozes comes from vineyards near the village of Beaumont-Monteux, only a few kilometres from the Domaine Alain Graillot vines. The lieux-dits are called Les Bosquets and Les Pichères. Here, in the most south-easterly part of the appellation, the fast-draining soils are made up mostly of alluvial stones and gravel. They are low in clay and, in fact, very similar to the Domaine Alain Graillot soils in Les Chênes Verts, just to the north. Planted throughout the 1980s, the vines are now managed organically (certification is due soon). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fermentations are entirely natural, and Graillot Jr. uses only a small whole-bunch component, usually in the realm of 20-30%. It is, therefore, a wine that tends to ‘come around’ earlier than the 100% whole-bunch wines that carry the Alain Graillot name. The 2021 was fermented in concrete vats and then racked into one-, two- and three-year-old Burgundy barrels—purchased from some of the top estates—and a 12-hectolitre Stockinger cask. There is also a tiny component (less than 10%) of new barrels purchased from the Atelier Centre France, whose bespoke steam-bent barrels are now used at Guiberteau, Didier Dagueneau and François Chidaine. The wine spent 11 months in barrel and was brought together for three months in large fût tronconique. It is bottled unfiltered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA brilliant wine! Although it was a tricky year—frost, hail and lots of pressure—the 2021 is a fabulous release for this wine. It’s sappy and mineral with a delicious core of blackberry, dark cherry and iodine scented fruit and a twist of herbal\/smoky complexity. Graillot is now aging this wine for six months longer to allow for finer integration between the wine’s fruit and tannin, and it has really worked here. Those who love classic Northern Rhône Syrah will be thrilled.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44718533312750,"sku":"24304-750","price":61.67,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/7ad1b194-cdce-ee11-ac40-0aa7bbf44e76_24304-750.png?v=1708309959"},{"product_id":"equis-equinoxe-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2023","title":"Equis Equinoxe Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003eMaxime Graillot and Thomas Schmittel’s nouveau-style Crozes is sourced primarily from a mature, gravelly, organically farmed site in Pont-de-l’Isère. This site is owned and managed by a good friend and neighbour of the Graillot clan, and the vigneron and producer work closely together. It is this collaboration that has seen the Equinoxe cuvée reach ever-greater heights. Roughly 80% destemmed, the wine is fermented in concrete tanks and large wooden tronconique vats (with a degree of carbonic maceration) and aged for nine months in the same vessel. This is gorgeously fleshy, forward, drink-it-straight-from-the-bottle kind of Crozes, with a touch more density than in 2021, but just as delicious. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44718716354798,"sku":"24303-750","price":39.82,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/5a654f1e-cece-ee11-ac40-02c0c1c8e708_24303-750.png?v=1708323014"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2022","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2022","description":"Screwcap. Alain Graillot’s 2022 white Crozes-Hermitage is a deliciously silky yet vibrant blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne, whole-bunch pressed and naturally fermented in a mix of one-year-old 600-liter 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) means that Maxime compensates for the richness of fruit, in particular from the Marsanne, by arresting malolactic conversion to maintain freshness (\"I don't have any Chenin!\" Maxime opines). He bottles under screwcap for the same reason. The new release is amply textured, with attractive apricot and wildflower aromas and a nutty, complex palate draped in silky white stone fruits, finishing with grip and the gentle warmth of ripe Marsanne. ","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44794250199278,"sku":"24302-750","price":66.61,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/2e54ac05-11dc-ee11-ac41-0aa7bbf44e76_24302-750.png?v=1709777731"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2021-1500ml","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2021 (1500ml)","description":"\u003cp\u003eNow 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 and reaffirms the great work being done by Maxime Graillot. 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe organically farmed 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 begun to play a quiet yet growing role.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe notes below point to what a successful wine this is: the cream always rises to the top! It’s already bursting with charismatic plum, anise and rose petal flavours and a twist of nettle from the stems. The palate is refined, juicy, super-fresh and seriously complex. A joy to drink, it will continue to improve for a decade or two, even if it is lovely drinking now. A great restaurant vintage, if ever there was one!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44794274382062,"sku":"24299-1500","price":127.38,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/65fe3fe8-11dc-ee11-ac41-0aa7bbf44e76_24299-1500.png?v=1709777734"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2021","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eNow 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 and reaffirms the great work being done by Maxime Graillot. 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe organically farmed 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 begun to play a quiet yet growing role. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe notes below point to what a successful wine this is: the cream always rises to the top! It’s already bursting with charismatic plum, anise and rose petal flavours and a twist of nettle from the stems. The palate is refined, juicy, super-fresh and seriously complex. A joy to drink, it will continue to improve for a decade or two, even if it is lovely drinking now. A great restaurant vintage, if ever there was one!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44794275037422,"sku":"24299-750","price":66.61,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/e837337c-11dc-ee11-ac41-02c0c1c8e708_24299-750.png?v=1709777724"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-la-guiraude-2020","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe limited production La Guiraude is Graillot’s tête de cuvée—made only in vintages where there are wines that exhibit particularly intense and ageworthy personalities. It’s a barrel selection, so the winemaking is the same as the classic Crozes, although the chosen casks age longer in both barrel and bottle. The Graillots are quick to point out that La Guiraude is not seen as a necessarily better wine than the domaine’s Crozes; instead, it is typically more powerful and can require longer cellaring. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 2020 season was almost the complete opposite of 2021–warm and very dry–and Maxime Graillot’s decision to pick relatively early made a difference. He picked on 3rd September, roughly a week before the domaine’s neighbours started to harvest. It’s a deep, smouldering mini-Hermitage for the ages but nonetheless remains ‘classic’ and savoury in style. Alongside the classic markers of anise, black olive and smoky minerality, the 2020 is packed with ripe, compact fruit, impressive texture and powdery tannins. And once again, there’s a hint of Hermitage or even Cornas going on this year. It’s a Guiraude for the cellar and for the ages; if you are going to drink it young, grab the decanter, gather your finest friends and get a good-sized rib-eye on the BBQ!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44794297254126,"sku":"24301-750","price":93.88,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/e92ddf80-13dc-ee11-ac41-02c0c1c8e708_24301-750.png?v=1709777727"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-la-guiraude-2020-1500ml","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2020 (1500ml)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe limited production La Guiraude is Graillot’s tête de cuvée—made only in vintages where there are wines that exhibit particularly intense and ageworthy personalities. It’s a barrel selection, so the winemaking is the same as the classic Crozes, although the chosen casks age longer in both barrel and bottle. The Graillots are quick to point out that La Guiraude is not seen as a necessarily better wine than the domaine’s Crozes; instead, it is typically more powerful and can require longer cellaring. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 2020 season was almost the complete opposite of 2021–warm and very dry–and Maxime Graillot’s decision to pick relatively early made a difference. He picked on 3rd September, roughly a week before the domaine’s neighbours started to harvest. It’s a deep, smouldering mini-Hermitage for the ages but nonetheless remains ‘classic’ and savoury in style. Alongside the classic markers of anise, black olive and smoky minerality, the 2020 is packed with ripe, compact fruit, impressive texture and powdery tannins. And once again, there’s a hint of Hermitage or even Cornas going on this year. It’s a Guiraude for the cellar and for the ages; if you are going to drink it young, grab the decanter, gather your finest friends and get a good-sized rib-eye on the BBQ!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44794298073326,"sku":"24301-1500","price":193.55,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/005b7536-14dc-ee11-ac41-0aa7bbf44e76_24301-1500.png?v=1709777737"},{"product_id":"chateau-grillet-2020","title":"Château-Grillet 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eTight, discreet, restrained and coiled are some of the epithets attached to young Château-Grillet, alongside a finely spun texture, with notes of pear, orange blossom and apricot, and then a notable amertume (bitterness) on the finish, which some suggest is reminiscent of grapefruit. With age, the palate gains richness, increasing the floral imprint but also bringing truffle and honey, while the finish is always mineral with smoky, salty, iodine length. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUpon arrival to the cellar, the grapes are chilled before whole-bunch pressing. The juice settles for 24 to 48 hours before wild fermentation, which finishes in barrel, where the wine always undergoes malolactic conversion. It ages for approximately 12 months in barrel, sometimes more, before the wine rests another six to eight months in stainless still 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 20% new wood in the blend. The rest of the wine ages in second- to fourth-use wood. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrillet’s aging potential defies logic. Ten to 15 years seems to be the general view, and while this sounds inexplicable for Viognier, Château-Grillet is an enigma. William Kelley recently posted an image of a late 1970s Grillet that looked impossibly bright. But that is the magic of this terroir. It is famed for its uncanny ability to age and is remarkably distinctive and unique. It is a wine of place rather than varietal expression from a terroir that delivers more restraint and minerality than we generally expect of Condrieu. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Grillet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44990767857902,"sku":"23141-750","price":856.05,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/c5398513-51f5-ee11-ac42-0aa7bbf44e76_23141-750.png?v=1712557996"},{"product_id":"bernard-faurie-hermitage-bessards-meal-2018","title":"Bernard Faurie Hermitage Bessards Méal 2018","description":"\u003cp\u003eGold capsule. For those who do not know John Livingstone-Learmonth’s work, he is both a scholar and a gentleman and, by far, the most comprehensive authority on the wines of the Rhône Valley. We follow his work avidly and yet have never seen him award a sixth star to any wine. Indeed, we didn’t know there was a sixth star. I had to go back to his ground-breaking 2005 tome, The Wines of the Northern Rhône (California Press), to check the rating scale, and there it was: “****** Outstanding, the cat’s whiskers. Grand vin—sumptuous, majestic, seductive—a wine to make even the veteran drinker stop, pause and reflect.” Two of Faurie’s Hermitage bottlings received this rating in 2018. A legend in the making. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bernard Faurie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45524041171182,"sku":"23350-750","price":177.71,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/4a54b347-d338-ef11-ac44-0aa7bbf44e76_23350-750.png?v=1719976329"},{"product_id":"bernard-faurie-hermitage-bessards-2020","title":"Bernard Faurie Hermitage Bessards 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eRed capsule. First introduced in 2015, this single-terroir Hermitage rouge comes from Faurie’s purest granite soils within Les Bessards. The plot lies close to the eastern border of Les Greffieux and was planted between the 1940s and 1960s (see the note above for more on the vineyard). In 2020, Faurie made two 600-litre demi muids (first used in 2012). Our wine was hand-bottled from one of these casks. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bernard Faurie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45524045758702,"sku":"23348-750","price":206.21,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/67604974-d338-ef11-ac44-02c0c1c8e708_23348-750.png?v=1719976326"},{"product_id":"bernard-faurie-hermitage-greffieux-bessards-2020","title":"Bernard Faurie Hermitage Greffieux Bessards 2020","description":"","brand":"Bernard Faurie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45963399004398,"sku":"23346-750","price":177.48,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/1943641f-d538-ef11-ac44-02c0c1c8e708_23346-750.png?v=1731895986"},{"product_id":"bernard-faurie-hermitage-bessards-meal-2020","title":"Bernard Faurie Hermitage Bessards Méal 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eGold capsule. Faurie farms just 0.2 hectares of Le Méal, planted in the 1940s. In 2020, this was blended with selected parcels from his near-100-year-old vineyard at Les Bessards. With its direct-south exposure, Le Méal is perhaps the hill’s warmest site and produces the area’s most layered and hedonistic wine. Faurie calls the wines from here “vin noblesse”, in this blend providing opulence and texture. The Bessards component gives “the skeleton”—the wine’s structure and mineral drive—as well as lifted perfume. This blend is roughly 60% Les Bessards and 40% Le Méal, assembled at harvest time. As for all of Faurie’s reds, this uses 100% bunches, and the winemaking was the same as for the wine above. It was bottled unfiltered, by hand, from two used demi-muids. Faurie describes this wine as “une force”, and he’s right. Decades will not weary it!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bernard Faurie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45963399332078,"sku":"23347-750","price":197.79,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/b39a4df6-d238-ef11-ac44-02c0c1c8e708_23347-750.png?v=1731895983"},{"product_id":"domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-vignes-franches-2021","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge Vignes Franches 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2008, Alain and Maxime Graillot selected 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 and disease-resistant clones became available. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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)—Vignes Franches is franc de pied by another name. There are just six rows, and now that the vines are fruitful, the wine is made in a single Stockinger foudre that is six years old. The grapes are mostly destemmed, and the wine ages for as long as Maxime sees fit; there is no commercial impetus with this wine—one reason why it has taken us a while to get an allocation!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn fact, 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 does see a deeper mineral seam and the wine has lovely purity and very fine tannins. The answers to all other questions lie at the end of a corkscrew.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45963413979374,"sku":"24306-750","price":139.28,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/4727d874-a8ce-ee11-ac40-0aa7bbf44e76_24306-750.png?v=1731895761"},{"product_id":"chateau-grillet-2021","title":"Château-Grillet 2021","description":"\u003cp\u003eTight, discreet, restrained and coiled are some of the epithets attached to young Château-Grillet, alongside finely spun texture, notes of pear, orange blossom and apricot, and a notable amertume (bitterness)– reminiscent of grapefruit–on the finish. With age, the palate gains richness, increasing the floral imprint and bringing truffle and honey, while the finish is always mineral with smoky, salty length. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe grapes are chilled before being pressed as whole bunches. The juice settles for 24 to 48 hours before fermenting wild (finished in barrel) and going through full malolactic conversion. It matures for approximately 12 months in barrel–sometimes more–before the wine rests another six to eight months in stainless still 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 20% new wood in the blend. The balance ages in second to fourth-use wood. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrillet’s aging potential defies logic. Ten to 15 years seems to be the general view, and while this sounds inexplicable for Viognier, Château-Grillet is an enigma. William Kelley recently posted an image of a late 1970s Grillet that looked impossibly bright. But that is the magic of this terroir. It is famed for its uncanny ability to age and is remarkably distinct and unique. It is a wine of place rather than varietal expression from a terroir that delivers more restraint and minerality than we generally expect from Condrieu. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Grillet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46152588656878,"sku":"24754-750","price":943.5,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/36852fb2-b6ec-ef11-ac3f-0a5a9202f90d_24754-750.png?v=1739758555"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2023","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2023","description":"Alain Graillot’s 2023 white Crozes-Hermitage is a deliciously 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. Not dissimilar to the 2022, the new release is amply textured, with attractive peach skin and earthy pear fruit wrapped in silky, focussed roundness and finishing with a little grip and the gentle warmth of ripe Marsanne. ","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46200414765294,"sku":"24758-750","price":73.54,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/ddee92b2-91f8-ef11-ac41-02954333b573_24758-750.png?v=1741054293"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2022-1500ml","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2022 (1500ml)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe organically farmed 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 begun to play a quiet yet growing role. This wine is full of intensity and character. It is fresh, vibrant and cool, yet it isn‘t for those who like squeaky clean, modern wines. Rather, there is plenty of what the French often call ‘animal’—meaty, leathery, funky notes—that makes this a fun glass with a charcuterie board or a rich, meaty stew. The powdery close screams out for food and air.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46200414830830,"sku":"24759-1500","price":150.14,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/912a95c8-91f8-ef11-ac41-0a5a9202f90d_24759-1500.png?v=1741054312"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-2022","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe organically farmed 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 begun to play a quiet yet growing role. This wine is full of intensity and character. It is fresh, vibrant and cool, yet it isn‘t for those who like squeaky clean, modern wines. Rather, there is plenty of what the French often call ‘animal’—meaty, leathery, funky notes—that makes this a fun glass with a charcuterie board or a rich, meaty stew. The powdery close screams out for food and air.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46200414863598,"sku":"24759-750","price":73.54,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/115efd09-92f8-ef11-ac41-02954333b573_24759-750.png?v=1741054309"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-la-guiraude-2022-1500ml","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2022 (1500ml)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe limited production La Guiraude is Graillot’s tête de cuvée—made only in vintages where there are wines that exhibit particularly intense and ageworthy personalities. It’s a barrel selection, so the winemaking is the same as the classic Crozes, although the chosen casks age longer in both barrel and bottle. The Graillots are quick to point out that La Guiraude is not necessarily seen as a better wine than the domaine’s Crozes; instead, it is typically more powerful, spicier, and perhaps calling for longer cellaring. However, we can safely say it often is better, and in 2022, it is considerably so. It’s still slightly ‘wild’ but also deep and layered—a kind of mini-Hermitage. Powerful yet remains ‘classic’ and savoury in style with a long, sappy, meaty close. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46200414961902,"sku":"24760-1500","price":210.93,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/810a823f-92f8-ef11-ac41-02954333b573_24760-1500.png?v=1741054290"},{"product_id":"domaine-alain-graillot-crozes-hermitage-la-guiraude-2022","title":"Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe limited production La Guiraude is Graillot’s tête de cuvée—made only in vintages where there are wines that exhibit particularly intense and ageworthy personalities. It’s a barrel selection, so the winemaking is the same as the classic Crozes, although the chosen casks age longer in both barrel and bottle. The Graillots are quick to point out that La Guiraude is not necessarily seen as a better wine than the domaine’s Crozes; instead, it is typically more powerful, spicier, and perhaps calling for longer cellaring. However, we can safely say it often is better, and in 2022, it is considerably so. It’s still slightly ‘wild’ but also deep and layered—a kind of mini-Hermitage. Powerful yet remains ‘classic’ and savoury in style with a long, sappy, meaty close. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine Alain Graillot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46200415060206,"sku":"24760-750","price":102.26,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/d5c1a560-92f8-ef11-ac41-02954333b573_24760-750.png?v=1741054296"},{"product_id":"domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-2022","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003eMaxime Graillot’s estate Crozes comes from vineyards near the village of Beaumont-Monteux, only a few kilometres from the Domaine Alain Graillot vines. The lieux-dits are Les Bosquets and Les Pichères. Here, in the most southeasterly part of the appellation, the fast-draining soils mainly comprise alluvial stones and gravel. They are low in clay and, in fact, very similar to the Domaine Alain Graillot soils in Les Chênes Verts, just to the north. Planted throughout the 1980s, the vines are now managed organically.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fermentations are entirely natural, and Graillot Jr. uses only a small bunch component, usually in the realm of 20-30%. It is, therefore, a wine that tends to ‘come around’ earlier than the 100% whole-bunch wines that carry the Alain Graillot name. The 2022 fermented in concrete vats and was racked into one-, two- and three-year-old Burgundy barrels—purchased from some of the top estates—and a 12-hectolitre Stockinger cask. There is also a tiny quotient of Slavonian oak from Garbellotto. Maxime has judged this beautifully. It’s a fleshy, elegant, engaging Crozes with liquorice and tapenade-infused succulence before a long, mineral close. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cgrammarly-desktop-integration data-grammarly-shadow-root=\"true\"\u003e\u003c\/grammarly-desktop-integration\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46207047860462,"sku":"24856-750","price":63.96,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/398b38b0-49f9-ef11-ac41-0a5a9202f90d_24856-750.png?v=1741140908"},{"product_id":"domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-blanc-2022","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003eLes Pends is one of the very finest white lieux-dits in Crozes-Hermitage. Maxime Graillot had been waiting and waiting to get a parcel and finally succeeded in 2014. It’s a sloping, south-facing hillside on white clay and chalk, described by Rhône authority John Livingstone-Learmonth as a “high, high-quality terroir”. The site’s appeal lies in its ability to ripen fruit while retaining a mouthwatering structure courtesy of the limestone-rich soils. Simply, Les Pends is one of the most coveted terroirs in the region for white grapes, and Maxime’s wine—full of alluring floral fruit and stony intensity—explains why. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGraillot owns just 0.4 hectares of 40-year-old vines densely planted to 75% Marsanne and 25% Roussanne. The grapes are pressed as bunches and ferment with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matures in 600-litre demi-muid and 300-litre cigar. Unlike the Domaine Alain Graillot white—grown on the deep alluvial soils of Pont-de-l’Isère—Graillot does not block malolactic conversion; the limestone soils provide enough freshness and tension. It’s a much bigger puncher than the 2021.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cgrammarly-desktop-integration data-grammarly-shadow-root=\"true\"\u003e\u003c\/grammarly-desktop-integration\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46207058837742,"sku":"24857-750","price":88.22,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/81d35c08-4af9-ef11-ac41-02954333b573_24857-750.png?v=1741140906"},{"product_id":"domaine-des-lises-crozes-hermitage-rouge-vignes-franches-2022","title":"Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge Vignes Franches 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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)—Vignes Franches is franc de pied by another name. There are just six rows, and now that the vines are fruitful, the wine is made in a single six-year-old Stockinger foudre. The grapes are mostly destemmed, and the wine ages for as long as Maxime sees fit; there is no commercial impetus with this wine—one reason why it has taken us a while to get an allocation! \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe 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. The answers to all other questions lie at the end of a corkscrew.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cgrammarly-desktop-integration data-grammarly-shadow-root=\"true\"\u003e\u003c\/grammarly-desktop-integration\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46207060213998,"sku":"24860-750","price":144.72,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/5ab06230-4bf9-ef11-ac41-02954333b573_24860-750.png?v=1741140883"},{"product_id":"equis-equinoxe-crozes-hermitage-2023","title":"Equis Equinoxe Crozes-Hermitage 2023","description":"\u003cp\u003eMaxime Graillot and Thomas Schmittel’s nouveau-style Crozes is sourced primarily from a mature, gravelly, organically farmed site in Pont-de-l’Isère. This site is owned and managed by a good friend and neighbour of the Graillot clan, and the vigneron and producer work closely together. This collaboration has seen the Equinoxe cuvée reach ever-greater heights. Fully destemmed, the wine fermented in concrete tanks and large wooden tronconique vats (with a degree of carbonic maceration) and matured for nine months in the same vessel. This is gorgeously fleshy, forward, drink-it-straight-from-the-bottle kind of Crozes. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Domaine des Lises","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46207070568686,"sku":"24861-750","price":39.88,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/7468\/3630\/files\/5f5ca209-4cf9-ef11-ac41-0a5a9202f90d_24861-750.png?v=1741140912"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.bibendum.com.au\/collections\/northern-rhone.oembed?page=2","provider":"Bibendum Wine Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}