Domaine Marcel Richaud ‘Cairanne’ Rouge 2019

Location: France, Rhône, Cairanne

Winemaker: Thomas, Claire, & Marcel Richaud

Grapes: Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Carignan

Soil: clay, limestone

Winemaking: After harvest, grapes are cooled down for 12 hours. Everything is destemmed, with the exception of the Carignan which is vinified whole-cluster. Each varietal is vinified separately in concrete vats. Macerations last between 10 and 15 days. A few remontages are done each day during fermentation.

‘Cairanne’: Each vintage, the Richaud bottle a portion of their Cairanne without the addition of sulfur. Since the 2016 vintage, we have chosen to work exclusively with this bottling. Ruggedly handsome but with smooth tannins and exhilarating notes of crushed violets, sweet tobacco, and melted dark chocolate.

From the importer Louis/Dressner: If you've heard of Cairanne, one of the best terroirs in the vast Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages appellation, it's probably because of Marcel Richaud.

Richaud comes from a vine growing family who'd historically and prosperously sold grapes to the local cave cooperative. So it came as a shock when Marcel, only 17 at the time, told his father he wanted to become a "vigneron indépendant". To his senior, this was incomprehensible and felt very risky: nothing to gain, more work and less pay. Undeterred, Marcel started with 14 hectares of his aunt's vines, producing his first vintage at 19 years old in a dilapidated cellar with no roof. He quickly made a name for himself in the nascent Parisian natural wine scene of the early 1990's and eventually began incorporating his father's cooperative vines into his eponymous production.

Today, Marcel is retired and the estate is run by his children Thomas, Claire and Edith. The estate has grown to a sizeable 80 hectares over the years, a combination of Marcel progressively recouping family vineyards from the cooperative and purchasing land; about 40 hectares come from the family and the other 40 have been purchased or planted since the 1980's.

Less Grenache vines are planted than most estates in the area, just 25% of what is grown and the same amount of Syrah and Mourvèdre. The remainder of the estate consists of 10% Cinsault and 15% various local varietals. This mix is one of the reasons why Richaud’s wines, despite being high in alcohol, have such great balance and finesse. Mourvèdre especially plays an important role in toning down the alcohol degree that Grenache easily reaches in a warm year: it requires more sun and later picking, and in Cairanne it is at the northern edge of its growing region. As is often the case, a varietal gives its best and most nuanced in such “border” territory: witness red Burgundies and red Touraines from Cabernet Franc.

The focus is on harvesting a healthy and ripe crop, with the wines made in large cement vats, each varietal vinified apart until a blend is done about eight months later. In 2000, a cellar was built of yellow sandstone blocks (from the Pont du Gard quarry), permitting for casks and barriques to be incorporated into the winemaking. Vinifications occur with native yeasts and without any additions of S02. The wines are never fined or filtered, and only a small amount of sulfur is added at bottling. For some cuvées, the Richaud offer a un-sulfured bottling to be shipped once a year in the winter. As of the 2016 vintage, we have opted to work with this bottling on the Cairanne.