Domaine Vallot 'Le Coriancon' Cotes du Rhone 2020

The Vallot family goes back for more than five generations in the Rhône valley, and has accumulated quite a bit of experience in the wine industry. Current winemaker Anaïs Vallot spent time studying hospitality and hotel management all over the world, before refining her winemaking skills at properties such as Château d’Yquem in Sauternes.

The call came to return home to the Rhône and begin taking over operations at the family property, and Anaïs has proved extremely capable. She’s brought a youthful energy and a worldly perspective to the winemaking, pursuing freshness and balance in the finished product. This gets communicated in the wine, especially this Côtes-du-Rhône red.

This bottling is a bright and lively Grenache blend supported by Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault, and curiously two white grapes as well. This old-school technique of adding white grapes into red blends got abandoned in the 1990s, as it was once utilized by larger co-ops and lower-quality producers to stretch their production. When done judiciously with high-quality fruit, however, it can provide aromatic lift and freshness to a red wine. That’s certainly the case here.

Fresh red fruits abound here: strawberries, bing cherries, red plums. Notes of white pepper, steamed baking spices, and fresh herbs finish out. It’s a cheerful dinner party red that begs for conversation.