La Grange Du Nord
Ornière 2022

  • Region Gard, Southern Rhône, France
  • Grapes Clairette, Syrah, Grenache & Cinsault
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, no additional sulphites
  • ABV 12.7%
  • Size 750ml

Quantity

About the Wine

A fabulously floaty infusion-style wine, showing the diminished tannic structure, pure fruit character and openness of aroma that can be achieved with this restrained method. Fragrant with fresh strawberries and dusty anise, the body of the wine is rounded and gravity-defying, the lightly confected red fruits and spices taking on a pillowy, compote-like quality with a waft of herby liquorice. A neat line of acidity runs through into a savoury finish, making for a wine of fluidity and subtle detail.

Red grapes, Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault, along with white Clairette are direct-pressed, with some reserved Grenache and Cinsault added to this juice in whole bunches. The submerged red grapes begin to ferment and pop, bleeding their pigment into the wine, deeping the colour, but keeping things structurally restrained. The wine was then given a 9 month rest in steel tanks before bottling with no additions at any stage.

About La Grange Du Nord

For years a Parisian literature scholar and, perhaps unsurprisingly, procuring a secondary education in wine via the formative natural wine bars of the early 2000s, Frédéric Agneray eventually made his way south to make wine, via a series of stints learning on the job, establishing La Grange du Nord as 3 hectares in the Gard, in 2014.

Finding an affinity with those growers opposing industrial agriculture and producing what he prefers to term ‘living wines’ whilst drinking in Paris, he left his then job as an a/v librarian for a TV sports channel in pursuit of his new passion, spending the best part of the next decade working and learning around the Loire, Northern Rhône and the Ardèche, with a stint of 5 years at Grange-aux-Belles in Anjou. Later, in 2017 Fred was able to grow the domaine to 10 hectares and was joined by his sister Delphine as their production more than doubled.

Sitting east, towards the Southern Rhône end of the Gard in Sabran, just west of Orange (and a short drive north from the iconic Tavel), the vines in many ways here enjoy an extension of the southern Ardèche terroir, with its limestone and clay soils and moderating mistral winds, whilst sitting at the intersection with the Languedoc and its balmy Mediterranean influence. 

Plantings of Grenache prevail, along with Cinsault, Carignan, Syrah, Clairette and Roussanne as well as the local obscurity, Counoise, typically used as a blending grape in Châteauneuf-du-Pape – of course that brash, blockbuster style is not Fred’s thing at all, preferring to exercise a deft touch with these varietals, yielding elegant, perfumed wines that display a detail and nuance that doesn’t always go hand in hand with expectations of the region.

Favouring a very delicate extraction, macerations are gentle and over just a few days, often employing the infusion method, where whole bunches sit in the direct-pressed juice of other grapes. Manual basket-pressing only, Clairette and Roussanne can find their way in amongst the reds, lifting the density of a blend, and everything happens in strictly tank only – fibreglass or steel, no barrels. Fermentations are spontaneous, the wine is never filtered or fined and is given the time it needs, both in élevage and in the bottle, to be ready before release. Eschewing the use of sulphur at bottling, there is on occasion a scant 10mg/l used at the point the wine is racked, in some cases none at all. The finished article is distinctively pure, with a fluid, gossamer texture that feels open and expressive. The wines of La Grange du Nord gave us a welcome fresh perspective on this southern region.

Find out more about La Grange Du Nord

More from La Grange Du Nord

La Grange Du Nord
Bords de Scene 2021

Stunning blend of mainly Grenache with 10% Syrah. From the off, the colour in the glass pulls you in - a brick-tinged sunset ruby, crystalline and inviting. Perhaps the ultimate display of Fred's lightness of touch, the wine blends a lifted, complex perfume, with a confounding depth of structure that belies its appearance. Find out more.

  • Region Gard, Southern Rhône, France
  • Grapes Grenache & Syrah
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, minimal additional sulphites
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Cercle 2022

Gently extracted, the texture of the wine is wonderfully supple and fluid, with impressive purity of fruit. Highly digestible, the wine seems to diffuse at the edges, showing a satin-like softness, and airy quality that defies the southern heat. Find out more.

  • Region Gard, Southern Rhône, France
  • Grapes Grenache, Carignan & Counoise
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, minimal additional sulphites
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La Grange Du Nord
D’Équerre 2021

Fred's entry-point cuvée, blending a roughly even split of almost every grape grown in the domaine, red and white, brought together in a direct-press. The resulting wine is a striking translucent ruby, sitting in that pale red, deep rosé intersection - be sure to drink this one chilled. Find out more.

  • Region Gard, Southern Rhône, France
  • Grapes Clairette, Roussanne, Counoise, Grenache, Carignan & Cinsault
  • Vineyard Organic
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La Grange Du Nord
Gare du Nord 2021

A wine that starts to move into the more structured, gastronomic realms, Gare du Nord once again uses the infusion technique but with a little more extraction, giving intensity and tannins that edge to the foreground. Blending a majority of Grenache with Cinsault and Syrah, there is more darkness and grip, spicy black fruits with aromas of cinnamon and capsicum. Feeling the influence of the stems a little more, the body balances trademark fluidity with structural punch. Find out more.

  • Region Gard, Southern Rhône, France
  • Grapes Grenache, Cinsault & Syrah
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, minimal additional sulphites
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La Grange Du Nord
Mitan 2021

The most boldly-structured of the Grange du Nord wines, Mitan introduces a wild-edged nose of Carignan to the Grenache and Cinsault, and brings a lightly vegetal, stemmy character from the whole bunches. Giving the most textbook notes of the varietals in its expression, there are forest fruits, blackcurrants and spice, with a tannic structure that feels woven into the wine. Find out more.

  • Region Gard, Southern Rhône, France
  • Grapes Grenache, Carignan & Cinsault
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, no minimal sulphites
£30.50

Quantity

La Grange Du Nord
Par les Dunes 2021 MAGNUM

Small quantities of this sensational wine in magnum only. Another Grenache-dominated cuvée, the remaining 10% being a mix of Clairette, Carignan, Syrah and Cinsault each in micro quantities to enhance the blend. With a pretty, elevated perfume melding the floral and the herbaceous, as ever, the texture of the wine is supple and elegant, with fine-grained tannins that melt away rather than attack. Find out more.

  • Region Gard, Southern Rhône, France
  • Grapes Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Cinsault & Clairette
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, minimal additional sulphites
£60

Quantity