Domaine la Fourmone – Vacqueyras and Gigondas

One of our favourites and an early discovery for their Côtes du Rhône villages , Vacqueyras and Gigondas!

Region: Rhône Valley
Appellation: Vacqeyras AC
Producer: Domaine la Fourmone
Grapes: Grenache, Syrah
Several cuvées are produced – Tresor du Poete, Sélection Maître de Chais and Cuvée des Ceps d’or. There is also a White Vacqueyras – Cuvée Fleurantine!
Big powerful and velvety smooth spicy Rhône red – excellent (S.Rhône) Made from Grenache and Syrah grapes, manually picked. It is the smoothness of Vacqueyras which is its keynote – which derives from the Syrah grape. Vacqueyras was the second of the Côtes du Rhône villages to be upgraded to full appellation status (after Gigondas) – recognised for its big powerful character.

Guide Hachette des Vins de France 2002:
“Recommended 2** (remarkable wine) in the Guide Hachette des Vins 2002. “This is a very complete and fairly complex wine like most produced on this estate. Subtle hints of nuts, spices and garrigue (moorland) wild herbs, plus a tiny touch of mint, give an attractively original taste.The volme and strength of this wine are impressive. Full and rich this poetical treasure inspires lyrics and will be remembered. Delightfully refreshing, it should be sampled right now!!”

As ALLEZ VINS! UK French wine merchants we imported the wines of Domaine la Fourmone and l’Oustau Fauquet for many years,
Madame Combe produces high quality intense wines using traditional techniques from the domaine nestling under the Dentelles mountains.Significantly the wines are not filtered, which enables them to retain all the structure and body of these concentrated, powerful and charming wines. Roger Combe, the patriarch of the domaine, is a real Provencal and a renowned poet in the region. You will find Provencal phrases on the labels. The name “Fourmone” is believed to come from the Latin “Fromentum” (wheat), widely grown in the wide expanses of the Rhône valley.
The domaine is situated just north of the village of Vacqueyras, north of Carpentras in the southern Rhône Valley , and in the lee of the Dentelles de Montmirail – a series of jagged edged hills.
You can be assured of a warm welcome to the winery (except in February when they are usually closed).

The southern Rhône is dominated by a wide flat valley floor, which is intensively planted with vines. However, the better wines come from the slopes and hills on the valley sides, where the soils, drainage and aspect produce wines with more character and maturity .

The southern Rhône is dominated by a wide flat valley floor, which is intensively planted with vines. However, the better wines come from the slopes and hills on the valley sides, where the soils, drainage and aspect produce wines with more character and maturity.

Gigondas (under the label “l’Oustau Fauquet” is a seriously rich heavy wine – “drink with spoon” being one of my tasting notes for a particularly extraordinary vintage. It is in many respects similar to the nearby Chateauneuf-du-Pape AC wines.

Vaqueyras is a tad lighter, and is best known for its velvety smoothness overlying a spicy character.

Website: http://www.domaine-la-fourmone.com

originally published in 2006. The domaine is now organic!