The Story:

This domaine sits nearer the value end of the Côtes de Thongue spectrum, but don’t be fooled by that, as the wines are terrific. Moreover, it’s got serious history behind it; documents preserved on sheep skin demonstrate that the domaine goes back at least to the 15th century. When I went there, Bertrand Waris was lamenting the extraordinary difficulties they had with the 2021 vintage, which was heavily affected by frost among other things. He was also short on time, so I only got to taste five wines. Nevertheless, despite the difficult vintage and the limited tasting, I could tell that the wines they are producing are of remarkable quality for the prices asked.

Their sauvignon-viognier blend (Price Band A), while it may have been fuller and less fresh than is customary for them (because of the vintage) was a lovely wine, with florality and still a bit of zing. Then there is ‘Le Grand Blanc’, a roussanne-chardonnay-viognier assemblage, (Price Band B) which absolutely sings. Full in the mouth, but still in equilibrium, this is an excellent wine, for a ludicrously low price. There were two rosés, both from syrah and grenache but in differnet blends. The grenache-led one was paler and fresh; the syrah-led one was more full, and for the table, rather than an aperitif. I wasn’t able to get the names of the labels, but both are worth it and seem to be Price Band A.

Then there’s a very enjoyable Merlot- Cabernet sauvignon blend; it’s not super complex, but it can hold itself up next to that of St Georges d’Ibry and Arjolle, the local masters of this one, and again it seems to be Price Band A.