Domaine Henri Milan, "Reynard Rebels" 2022

Provence, France. A rustic, earthy blend of Carignan & Merlot, fermented with wild yeasts in cement tanks. Bottled unfined, unfiltered with no SO2. 

Henri Milan’s viticultural philosophy carries with it a sense of lightness, that is, the entire complexity of making great wine – at its core – has the capability of being actually quite simple. In his own words, “Making wine is not a technique, it is an accompaniment,” he says, “to what the vine gives us…not a question of purity, it is a question of balance: you receive from the vine, and all plants in general, what you give it.” You can sense that lightness and harmony in his words – that making wine is not an ‘auteurs’ excursion but rather an ‘accompaniment,’ and that word, with its musical connotations, works to describe the wines of Domaine Milan particularly well. Founded in the 1950s by Henri’s father, Robert Milan, the estate is located along the small but famous (for its cameo as THE mountains in Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”!) chain of mountains in Provençe known as the Alpilles, in the picturesque holiday town of St. Remy de Provence. The first grapevines were planted in 1958, the year after their estate’s purchase on the advice of Robert’s stepfather René Tramier. The estate was converted to organic principles when Robert’s son – Henri – took over the main grape-growing work in the late ‘80s, making them trailblazers for moving toward ‘natural’ wine in Provençe, a region whose production’s reputation has been dominated for some time by the ocean of salmon-hued, insipid & industrial rosé. Now accompanied by a small team including his son Théophile and his daughter Emmanuelle, Henri Milan – in accompaniment with the vines first planted both in the ‘50s and the youngest, a decade ago – produces some of the most downright delicious Provençal wines in existence. We are so happy and proud to present to you this special NV red, a snapshot of two different years-worth of growth, in perfect harmony.