Le Raisin et L'Ange, "Nedjma" 2021

40% Chardonnay, 20% Marsanne, 10% Roussanne, 10% Ugni Blanc, 10% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Villard Blanc. 1/3 of the fruit macerates whole-bunch for 10 days in stainless steel while the remaining 2/3 of the fruit gets a direct press. Zero/zero. 

Gilles Azzoni has long been a well-known practitioner and advocate of natural wine in the French region of the southern Ardêche. Having settled here in late 1983, he set up his family farm over 6 hectares of vines rimmed by woodlands and rolling lowlands. Nowadays, Le Raisin et l’Ange (translates to: The Grape and The Angel) is a joint project between himself and his son, Antonin. In addition to their own vines they’ve really committed themselves and their project to an increasingly négociant bent in order to promote and grow the renown and awareness of the awesomely transparent organic grape-growers of the Southern Ardêche. Among the many farms they will purchase grapes from is a shelf perennial of ours, the brothers over at Domaine Ozil. Despite the famously rocky and recalcitrant soils of the southern Ardêche, this father-son team has long been reviving the viticulture from yesteryear here, replanting loads of cereals, fruit trees, and more specific woodland trees like Boxwoods that help reinvigorate the deeper soil layers. In any case, these are wines that are always among our favorites, and this rendition of a fresh, slightly deeper rosé is no different.