Roland Grangier Côte-Rôtie L'Exquise 2018

Located in high up on the slopes of the Northern Rhône Valley, near the village of Chavanay, Domaine Grangier was only founded in 2002, but is already carving out a great reputation in France. The estate consists of 8 hectares of vines across the appellations of St Joseph and Condrieu with sloping vineyards planted on the classic granite soil of the region which gives the wines such character. The vineyards are managed sustainably, and a new winery containing state of the art equipment was built in 2012. The wines tread the perfect line between tradition and modernity, displaying classic expressions of the local varieties and terroirs. Grass is left between one row of vines, whilst the other is worked using different tractor attachments, which decompacts, allowing good aeration of the soil, maintaining microbial life while obtaining a sufficient level of organic matter. No pesticides are used. In order to control the yields, the vines are disbudded just after bud break occurs. De-leafing of the vines takes place in summer to ensure a good aeration and optimize the sun exposure. Green harvesting is carried out to control the yields and to obtain grapes rich in sugars, tannins and polyphenols. The grapes are harvested manually, from mid September to early October.