Cotes du Rhone Villages 'Les Coteaux', Domaine Boutinot 2018

Boutinot's love affair with the southern Rhône spans thirty years of making wine in the region. In 2010 the relationship was sealed with the purchase of a winery and vineyards above the village of Cairanne which lies in the heart of the southern Rhône valley, north east of Orange.

Domaine Boutinot's seven vineyards, planted with classic southern Rhône varieties - old vine Grenache Noir and Syrah, Mourvèdre and the more traditional Carignan Noir - all fall within the Cairanne Cru map, sanctioned in 2016 when Cairanne was granted its own appellation status. By working with their vigneron neighbours, they help revive traditional varieties such as Cinsault and Counoise and in the cellar they prefer time-honoured winemaking methods such as a long cuvasion aided only by natural yeasts, gentle remontage, manual pigeage and patient maturation in a nursery of French oak barrels.