Domaine Graeme & Julie Bott

A love story and a bit of good fortune; a love of the Syrah grape that led Graeme to the Rhone and the love of his life Julie, who came together whilst working at the prestigious cellars of Stephane Ogier. Theirs is a back story of adventure and spirit and one of serendipity too.

Our relationship with the pair stretches back some 8 years or so, when we often stopped and shared a beer after the Marché aux vins in Ampuis every January, it was no surprise when they told us they were setting out on their own journey.

The surprise came when they discovered that the house they had purchased in Verin, complete with 0.35 hectare of garden, was within the appellation of Condrieu, between the in-demand Coteau de Chéry and the illustrious Chateau Grillet. Graeme & Julie like to pick early to capture the freshness, the wines tend be expressive, bright and pure.

Watch the videos: Domaine G&J Bott or Condrieu Lieu-Dit L'ALEAU.

Graeme Bott on the 2023 vintage:

“The Condrieu degree in 2023 was 12.5° to 13°. If you were on top of the vineyards, you were OK, providing you had treated them.
Yields were better than what we could actually see, and we had ended 95% of the white harvest before the 18 September rain. In 2022, we sprayed the least ever because it was so dry, and in 2023 we sprayed the most ever because it was so wet. The reds are awesome.”

Domaine Lionnet

We came across the wines of Domaine Lionnet purely by chance one day at the Marché-Aux-Vins in Ampuis. On a walk across the bridge from Tain l’Hermitage to Tournon to blow away the cobwebs, we took a detour into a dusty wineshop full of Rhône treasures. Here the caviste, when asked for the up-and-coming domaines of the region, guided us a bottle of Cornas Terre Brulée and a love affair began.

More than an infatuation, the wines seem to get better with every vintage. Already the 2021 is extraordinarily good and is drinking now - we cannot wait to see how the 2022s develop, they tasted remarkable from barrel in October.

This is a truly lovely estate that is run immaculately by Corinne & Ludovic. Ludovic Izerable came to this domaine by marriage to Corinne, the daughter of Pierre and granddaughter of Michel Lionnet. She took the reins in 2003. The Izerables immediately converted the domaine to organic farming and have been certified since 2009.

The word 'Cornas' derives from the Celtic word for 'burnt earth' hence the name of the Domaine's flagship cuvée 'Terre Brûlée'. The domaine is a mere 4 hectares, in Cornas and Saint Joseph. In the latter, their vines are in Châteaubourg, the southernmost village of the appellation, at 300m altitude. In Cornas, they have 7 parcels of vines, mostly between 40 and over 100 years old, with one parcel of young vines planted in 2008. No pesticides, herbicides or commercial fertilisers are used, and the soil is worked by horse and a small caterpillar-tracked machine.

The grapes are handpicked and vinified as whole bunches - nothing is added at any stage and the vinification takes place with naturally occurring yeasts. As a result, the harvest has to be ultra-clean and that contributes to the aromatic purity of the wines. After the alcoholic fermentation with pigeage the free run wine is drawn off and the marc is pressed gently in a vertical press from the 19th century. The malolactic fermentation is allowed to take place in resin or stainless steel vats, and only once completed do the wines get racked and transferred to barrel for two winters - a total of 18 months - half in 225l and half in demi-muids of 600l. No new wood is used. The wines are then bottled without fining or filtration.

For the Corinne & Ludovic, 2023 was:

“A winegrower's vintage where each decision taken had an impact on the year's results. A vintage of risk with potential of disease pressure, hail, rain and heat. Also a vintage of complexity in the vines because the differences from one plot to another, from one terroir to another are marked, in the end I am happy with the results.”