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Bulletin Detail
Date February 15, 2013 
Title Last Call for Three Smashing Southern Rhône Reds from La Gramière 
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Bulletin Untitled Page
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We will be bringing your orders for the splendid, organic red wines from La Gramière to the LCBO next Friday, February 22nd. These are truly delicious, artisanal wines from the southern Rhône that we know you will thoroughly enjoy.

La Gramière

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Amy and Matt sample the ripe fruits of their labours! 
Here’s how it all started. Several years ago Amy, who originally comes from Colorado encountered Minnesotan Matt as he was browsing through the racks of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon in the San Francisco wine store where she worked. A few days later when a case of wine was to be delivered to Matt’s house, the opportunistic Amy volunteered. Things developed splendidly from that delivery mission and soon after they married.

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.

Amy with ‘Squeaky’, her Hovawart

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.

The Charming Wines from La Gramière As we all know by now, 2009 and 2010 were terrific vintages in southern France; some say two of the best ever. From the 2009 vintage we are offering the La Gramière (green label), a delicious red that is a blend of Grenache and Syrah.

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. 

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Matt and Amy dispensing vinous cheer!
It cuts through the clouds – cuts through the sea of uncertainty and does so with the most honest and well-intentioned character one could imagine. It is there when I need it, listening, pondering and giving back only the most heartfelt advice. 

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.

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Matt at the helm of La Gramière’s vintage Massey Ferguson
Then why do it?

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. The prices include a $1 per bottle handling fee.


2009 La Gramière – 14.5% Alc./Vol.                                              $24/$144 case of six
This absolute charmer is made from 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah. The vines are from thirty to fifty years of age and the yield is a most miserly 22 hl/ha! This wine sees no oak, is unfined and unfiltered. It is pure, crisp, pleasingly complex and ready to drink, although it will keep nicely for at least ten years or more. It is a deep ruby red and proffers up aromas of plums, raspberries, blackberries, Provençal spices, tobacco, pepper and a trace of mocha. It is elegant, full and juicy in the mouth with terrific depth and balance followed by a most pleasant, lingering aftertaste. It will go wonderfully with roast leg of lamb and all manner of game. Don’t miss out on this delectable beauty. Only 9,000 bottles were made. Order some now … you will be delighted you did!

2009 Syrah “Peter’s Vineyard” – 14.5% Alc./Vol.                        $28/$168 case of six
Amy says of this gorgeous mouthful, “This special bottling of 90% Syrah and10% Grenache comes from our good friend Peter Till’s vineyard, without whose help much of this adventure wouldn’t have been possible! The grapes were picked by hand to express the characteristics of the terroir from which it came, the year in which the grapes were grown and our desire to make a unique and unmanipulated wine. We believe that in this way, we have created a wine that is true to its place of origin, authentic and full of character. This special bottling of Syrah was aged for 18 months in tank.  From the excellent 2009 vintage, this wine is still quite young and tightly wound.  It is deep and rich with ripe red fruit and spice - the tannins will enable it to age for another 5-10 years.” It too will go wonderfully with any lamb dish, roast beef and game. Only 1,000 bottles made. Order this very special southern Rhône now.


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.


Amy and Matt’s La Gramière Sampler – 14.5% Alc./Vol.           $28/$168 case of six
You get two bottles each of Matt and Amy’s splendid 2009 La Gramière, 2009 Syrah “Peter’s Vineyard” and 2010 Old Vines Grenache in one handy case. What a great way to try three very, very good organic wines from the southern Rhône and from fabulous vintages to boot? Order your six pack of drinking pleasure now.

Coming Next from Arthur’s Cellar – Domaine Giuliani
It is always a pleasure to feature the very fine, Grenache-driven Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Domaine Giuliani. This time it will be the 2010 version, the southern Rhone vintage that Robert Parker considers to be the finest that he has ever tasted. We’ll try to get the Giuliani’s to free up a few more cases of the 2009 as well (everyone is raving about it). We will also offering the latest vintage (2012) of the extremely well-priced and very popular Côtes du Rhône Rouge ... Les Notes de Louis.

Please pass this bulletin on to others that you think might be interested in three absolutely delightful red wines from the southern Rhône – the 2009 La Gramière, 2009 Syrah “Peter’s Vineyard” and the 2010 Old Vines Grenache.

Many thanks and cheers,

Jim & Hélène
www.arthursellers.com
jaswalker@arthursellers.com
www.ofrance.ca
hbuisson@ofrance.ca