PRIMEUR WINES
La Provence – N°9651 – 16 november 2023
No other wine-growing region gives such importance to new wines as Beaujolais. And yet, just about everywhere in France, some winegrowers are having fun with new wines.
Although outside the Beaujolais region, the economic importance of vin primeur remains anecdotal, some vintages are nonetheless extremely interesting. At their Domaine des Escaravailles, in Rasteau, the Ferran family, one of the established names in the Southern Rhône, tried their hand at this exercise for the first time this year. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but now my father has said OK… If you take care of it”, says Madeline Ferran.
The Grenache Noir, Carignan and Syrah grapes for this first Côtes-du-Rhône Futures cuvée, called Prémices, were harvested on 15 September. Bottling took place on 28 October. Two thousand bottles of Prémices 2023, with a beautiful label designed in a hurry by Madeline Ferran, were put on the market this morning. The young winemaker from Rasteau has discovered the sprint of the primeur. And she didn’t want to miss out on her first. “My idea was to make a wine that was both straightforward and fruity, as a new wine should be,” she says. I did it for fun, but I did it seriously.“
Si la bouteille n’est en vente que depuis aujourd’hui, quelques dégustations d’essai ont déjà eu lieu au caveau. “Il faut un peu pousser la bouteille parce que les gens ne nous attendent pas dans cet exercice: pour eux, un vin nouveau c’est un beaujolais, pas un côtes-du-rhône. Mais quand ils ont goûté, ils ont adoré!”
Guénaël Lemouée