# Poignée de Raisins Côtes du Rhône Rouge (2024)

- **Producer:** Domaine Gramenon
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Grenache, Cinsault
- **Region:** Rhône, France
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 13.5%
- **Average price:** €25
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 14–16 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** strawberry, raspberry, cherry, violet, herbaceous

## About this wine

Domaine Gramenon was established in 1978 in Montbrison-sur-Lez in the Southern Rhône Valley. Following Philippe Laurent's untimely passing in 1999, Michèle Aubéry-Laurent took over the estate and built it into an iconic pioneer of biodynamic and natural winemaking. Today, Michèle operates the estate alongside her son Maxime-François Laurent. 'Poignée de Raisins' translates to 'A Fistful of Grapes' and serves as the domaine's quintessential 'vin de soif'—crafted from young Grenache and Cinsault vines planted on clay-limestone slopes and plateaus at 350 meters altitude.

## Interesting facts

- The cuvée name 'Poignée de Raisins' translates directly to 'A Fistful of Grapes'.
- Domaine Gramenon is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of natural and biodynamic winemaking in the Southern Rhône.
- Aged completely oak-free in raw concrete tanks to focus entirely on fruit purity and freshness.

## Food pairing

This fresh, vibrant red wine features silky low tannins and elevated natural acidity, making it extraordinarily food-friendly. It shines alongside roasted poultry, lighter grilled meats, cured charcuterie, and savory vegetable dishes without over-extracting or overwhelming the palate.

## Wine making process

The grapes are farmed organically and biodynamically, hand-harvested with rigorous sorting in the vineyard. Vinification is carried out using natural indigenous yeasts, with partial destemming and whole bunch inclusion. Maceration takes place over 15 days in raw concrete tanks. The wine is aged for 6 months exclusively in concrete vats to preserve pure, exuberant fruit expression without oak intervention. It is bottled after Easter without fining or filtration, with minimal post-malolactic sulfur addition.