This difficult season gave rise to a very appealing wine from Sylvain which he had only released twice before, and only in small quantities. We have never had it. He made much more this year, combining a part of his Grenache harvest (including a lot of the grapes that normally go into Les Grelots) with Syrah with the aim of creating a wine what the French call a glou glou wine. The wine is just that, fruity, energetic and easy to drink with soft tannins. The blend is 60% Grenache from limestone and volcanic soils and 40% Syrah from limestone. The syrah was picked first at about 13% and the whole bunches had carbonic maceration for 7 days. The grenache was picked at about 12% and had 7 days of carbonic maceration (also whole bunches). Each was pressed and kept separately but, after fermentation was complete for both, they were combined. They had 8 months of aging in a fibreglass tank. 12.5% ABV.

Sylvain grew up in the Northern Rhone and initially worked for Ardèche legend Gérald Oustric from Domaine du Mazel from who he now leases one of his vineyards. The vineyards are in several parcels. The southern parcels, between Alba la Romaine and Valvignères are mainly limestone from when this land was an ancient sea. The more northerly ones further up the valley are mainly basalt from the volcanic activity that was prevalent in past eras here.

He also likes using carbonic maceration to capture vibrancy and freshness in his wines.