About this WINE
Domaine de L'Ameillaud
Nick Thompson forewent the pleasures of the family metal business to become a Vigneron 10 years ago. He moved to the Southern Rhône and purchased the rather run down and dilapidated Domaine de L'Ameillaud in Cairanne. He progressively replanted most of the vineyards and renovated the cellars and cuverie.
The Côtes du Rhône Villages is a blend of 60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 10% Carignan, and 5% Mourvèdre. The grapes are fermented separately for around 3 weeks in a combination of stainless steel and cement vats - 10% of the cuvee is then aged in new oak barrels for 4 months before being returned to tank. The wines are blended and then lightly fined and filtered before being bottled 12 months later. An excellent source for mouthfilling fruity and spicy Southern Rhone reds.
Southern Rhône Blend
The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.
The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.
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Description
Nick’s vines are located on gentle south-facing slopes, their soils being principally chalk and clay. The 2010 is made from 65% Grenache 30% Syrah and 5 % Carignan; it is the classic Southern Rhône wine, its quality appreciably above what one may describe as ‘everyday drinking’ but its heart residing in a spicy and accessible warmth.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, February 2012
Cairanne is located on a limestone plateau, its vineyards generally less elevated than those of Vacqueyras and Gigondas which are situated a few kilometres to the east. The wines are bench-mark Côtes du Rhône Villages, combining ripe fruit, pepper and spice. Welshman Nick Thompson has lived here a long time and his wines are now recognised as amongst the best in the village. I think he has now just about forgiven me for once describing him as a Scotsman…
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