 It is with great pleasure that we bring back the splendid, organic red wines from La Gramière, the dream winery that became a reality for Amy Lillard and Matthew Kling.
Hélène and I first bumped into a bottle of La Gramière in February 2010. We were in Uzès. It was bitterly cold and wretchedly damp. The only restaurant open was the cozy ‘Envie de Terroirs’ deli in La Place des Herbes. We ordered the luncheon special along with a bottle of La Gramière. It was a 2005. As you can tell from this photo of Hélène, it was thoroughly enjoyed. A nasty day suddenly turned delightful.
We enjoyed that initial bottle so much that we were determined to find the source so that we could offer it to our wine club. We found it the following week at Vinisud, the biennial wine fair held in the charming city of Montpellier. There we tracked down the owners, Amy Lillard and Matt Kling and the rest is, as they say, history. This is the fifth time we have offered their truly wonderful wines.
La Gramière
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Amy and Matt sample the ripe fruits of their labours!
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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 shop where she worked. A few days later when a case of wine was to be delivered to Matt’s house, the ever opportunistic Amy volunteered. Things developed splendidly from that delivery mission and not too long 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.
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Amy with ‘Squeaky’, her Hovawart
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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. 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 with Matt and Amy dispensing their enchanting elixirs to the thirsty Provençal.
Read all about Matt and Amy’s latest adventures and travails on Amy’s blog.
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Matt at the helm of La Gramière’s vintage Massey Ferguson
(The children are guests; not theirs)
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The Charming Wines from La Gramière
2009, 2010 and 2011 were terrific vintages in southern France; some say three of the best ever. From the 2009 vintage we are once again offering the Syrah ‘Peter’s Vineyard’, from 2010, also for a second time, the Old Vines Grenache and from 2011, the La Gramière (green label), a delicious red blend of Grenache and Syrah. And, 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 imposes. Here’s what Jon Rimmerman of www.garagistewine.com had to say about the wines of La Gramière:
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 Vin de Table. 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.
Then why do it?
That question is answered as soon as you pull the cork.
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, January 31st. The prices include a modest handling fee. |
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2010 Old Vines Grenache – 14.5% Alc./Vol. $33/$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.
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