Arthur Sellers Bulletin Archive
La Gramière
Drinking good wine wasn’t enough – they wanted to make their own. So, they moved to Paris and in early 2005 found the vineyards of their dreams near the quaint village of St Quentin la Poterie not too far from Uzès. They named their bit of paradise La Gramière.
Here is how Amy describes their modus operandi – “Created in 2005 with the purchase of 4.5 hectares of vineyards in the southern Rhône Valley, La Gramière is our dream come true. Our vineyards have been farmed organically since we purchased them in 2005 (organic certification took effect with the harvest of 2011). It is a truly “hands-on” business - we have no employees, and we do all vineyard work and vinification ourselves. Our wines are made naturally with very little manipulation (no oak, no micro-oxygenation, no additives), just grapes (very good ones), a little SO2 and a lot of work. Every September our friends and family arrive from all over the world to help us pick our grapes. It's a true harvest festival with wonderful lunches in the shade of the olive trees and a big party to celebrate the end of harvest each year. We feel our wines are the true expression of not only our terroir, but also ourselves, they are honest and true, and reflect what we both love in the wines of this beautiful region. We hope you enjoy them!”
The latest addition to Matt and Amy’s little enterprise is their restored 1979 Citroën Type H truck pictured at the top of this bulletin. Yet to be named, the magnificent beast began life as a horse hauler. In fact, hay and manure were still much in evidence when they acquired it.
Now ‘le camion blanc et vert’ can be found at local markets and fairs around Uzès and the Pont du Gard in the summer months where Matt and Amy dispense their enchanting elixirs to the thirsty Provençal.
Read all about Matt and Amy’s latest adventures and travails on Amy’s blog.
We are also offering Amy and Matt’s luscious, mainly Syrah “Peter’s Vineyard” (red label), also from the 2009 vintage.
And finally, a brand new wine from the terrific 2010 vintage, their Old Vines Grenache (grey label).
For those who would like to try all three, we have Matt and Amy’s La Gramière Sampler that contains two bottles of each.
These wines are ‘Vins de Table’ because the fiercely independent Matt and Amy want nothing to do with the rules and regulations that AOC status would impose on them.
Here’s what Jon Rimmerman of www.garagistewine.com had to say about the wines of La Gramière and the 2009 La Gramière in particular:
“I'm so happy to have made this wine a personal friend.
In this wine, I find peace...which is saying nothing and everything at once.
In the same vein as my selection of Chambers St as the top retailer of 2011, you never feel as though La Gramière has an agenda – there is no motivation to sell anything and no motivation to win you over by promoting, marketing or wishing for something that could (and should) come naturally to those that choose to amble through an evening or two with a kindred spirit that eventually becomes a confidant.
In wine, that confidant is La Gramière.
With their tiny and special BIO/organic property, Amy Lillard and Matt Kling have made it ok to be a simple Grenache/Syrah VdT. They have changed the notion of “country-French” from a furniture aesthetic to one of winemaking bravado where rustic equals regal. The time spent in the vineyard and in the cellar, cajoling their offspring to a point where it can fly on its own, is almost unreal – worth far more in a monetary sense than they could ever recoup for their effort.
That question is answered as soon as you pull the cork.
Not that it is new news - we profiled this heart-warming Southern Rhone property (and story) last year but that was the 2008 vintage – a wonderful success in a year that required meticulous hand-picking and sorting grape by grape to achieve anything of substance (which they did with aplomb).
This, on the other hand, is 2009 and I can predict with my usual fortune-tellers fairy dust that the 2009 La Gramière “La Gramière” (the winery’s top effort) will be among the most popular wines we bring to your table in 2012 – it is a rolling ball of lip-smacking, bursting-at-the-seems, fresh and downright delicious red fruit that you want to keep pulling from your holster again and again. It has sophistication beyond its years but also a naïveté that is equally alluring. The fruit is so natural, fresh and pure in composition, you taste it intertwined with the ripe vintage in such a way that the two are never confused (a nearly impossible achievement for any winemaker – i.e. this wine tastes like La Gramière first and foremost and the vintage second).
In the end, as with any bottle of wine you decide to engage in a relationship, however brief – a dalliance or a long-term proposal, it must speak to you, understand who you are and why you’ve chosen to be you...
...or it just tastes darn good.
With La Gramière, you have both.”
These lovely wines were caringly created to be consumed with food. They come in convenient six-bottle cases. We will be taking your orders to the LCBO on Friday, February 22nd. The prices include a $1 per bottle handling fee.
2010 Old Vines Grenache – 14.5% Alc./Vol. $32/$192 case of six The magnificent 2010 vintage produced some of the best Grenache we've ever tasted. The fruit from our oldest vines was vinified separately and we liked it so much we decided to bottle it as is, 100%, unadulterated, pure Grenache. Aged for 24 months in unlined concrete tanks, this wine needs decanting, but once it opens up in your glass, you'll have a hard time putting it down. Complex yet elegant, it has everything the 2010 vintage has to offer! This is a big wine with lots of chewy, rich tannins and ripe fruit. It will go nicely with confit de carnard, rich stews and medium cheese. Only 5000 bottles made. Order your great Grenache now.
Many thanks and cheers,
Jim & Hélène www.arthursellers.com jaswalker@arthursellers.com www.ofrance.ca hbuisson@ofrance.ca
