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.
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.
