Carlo La Rocca started out with hardly a fistful of vines in 2018. His first release was composed of a single delicious southern Rhône red called Ciaülà. Beginner's luck? No chance. The following year he acquired a further 2.5 hectares on the windswept Sabran terrasses, high in the Ardèche hills above the river. This would give him a decent measure of Cinsault and Counoise, giving rise to the sweet-scented thirst quencher, M’arricriu. Today the ‘empire’ stretches to almost five hectares, and there is now an artisanal winery in the village.

Sicilian by birth, Carlo left behind a successful career as a petrochemical engineer to pursue wine. His journey took him through Turin, Beaune, and eventually Lyon, where he met his wife and chose to settle. We first encountered Carlo through our friends at Mas du Libian, where he worked while establishing his own domaine nearby in Sabran. His vineyards sit at 250 metres above Orange, in the foothills of the Cévennes, surrounded by wild herbs and scrubland. Though he initially explored sites in the Languedoc, it was here—on Sabran’s cooler, wind-swept, rocky terraces—that he found the freshness and vitality he was seeking.

L'Agramente organically farms under five hectares of pre-established bush vines covering Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, and a high proportion of Counoise. Carlo eschews the use of pesticides or herbicides and uses green manures for soil nutrition. Yields are in the 30-40 hl/ha range (low for Côtes-du-Rhône), the vines are goblet-trained with disbudding and leaf thinning, and the harvest is strict and meticulously sorted in the vineyard. It is important to Carlo to vet healthy grapes early to reduce to the need for added sulphites.

Brightness, liveliness and perfume can be qualities hard to come by in the Côtes-du-Rhône, yet that’s exactly what we love about these wines. The M’arricriu is a delicious wee slurper—light and bright in feel— while the Ciaülá packs more weight and depth, sinking into the middle palate.