A Happy New Year to you all from Cairanne; we hope you had a good break and savoured some wines of the Southern Rhône over the holiday season. While it’s tradition on some parts of the world to greet the New Year with a hearty rendition of Auld Lang Syne – the meaning of which we understand to be ‘good times long past’ we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on a few of our own ‘good times past’ of 2012.

Moving from Cairanne through Rasteau and Roaix along the curling arc of villages en route towards Gigondas, our next stop is Séguret on the other side of the valley. Nestling at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail, the lacey-edged rocky outcrop which dominates the skyline on this side of the valley, Séguret rightly earns its official classification as one of “the most beautiful villages in France” (along with cheese, a Normandy butter and ‘le poulet de Bresse’, even the pretty villages of France are classified too!).

In wine terms, Séguret is important because it is one of the named villages within the Côtes du Rhône Villages AOP, but for us it has special significance as the site of the ‘Les Turcs’ vineyard. High in the rugged mountainous terroir behind the village itself, the vines in this vineyard are genuinely old, a minimum of 50 years of age, some even older. The fruit from these vines impart a purity of flavour and a surprising tenderness to our Boutinot Rhône ‘Les Coteaux Schisteux’.