2012 Côtes du Rhône, Amour de Fruit, Domaine la Fourmente

Domaine la Fourmente

Visan is one of the more self-effacing of the Côtes du Rhône Villages, not clamouring self-righteously for standalone appellation status, and therefore less well-known than near neighbours such as Rasteau and Vacqueyras. Despite this, the wines can be excellent.

Domaine Fourmente, which was founded in 1922, farms 50 hectares and is certified as biodynamic. For vigneron Rémi Pouzin, the key Visan words are finesse and fruit. Lavender cultivation is also a speciality here; its perfumes pervade the wines with dreamy eloquence.

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.