A great opportunity to taste these wines with some time in the cellar. Tonton is an assemblage of an equal blend of Syrah, Grenache, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in old barriques for nine months and bottled back in 2017 with no additions at all.
As you'd expect for a wine of this age, it shows some nicely developed qualities - a tawny hint to its colour, with aromas and flavours of sweet leather, dark rolling tobacco and the fruit a raisined quality. A classical, old-school expression of Ardèche, bold, intense and crying out to accompany a roast leg of lamb or topside of beef.
All grapes were de-stemmed and fermented individually, before being blended into barrels after fermentation had completed.
Méryl and Géraldine Crozier established themselves in the village of Valvignères in 2012 after Méryl had cut his teeth making wine in Madiran in the South West and Mâcon in Burgundy. On returning to the family vineyards and eventually taking the reins, on the advice of Gérald Oustric of Le Mazel, the Croziers stopped supplying grapes to the local co-op, obtained organic certification, and their 5 beautifully verdant hectares of Syrah, Grenache, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Ugni Blanc & Viognier became La Vrille et le Papillon. The vines all sit over rocky limestone and clay soils and enjoy the moderating effect of the mistral wind as it funnels through the valley. In the cellar fermentations occur naturally and nothing is added. The Croziers are fans of experimentation and, in addition to a regular set of cuvées, each vintage often throws up a list of exciting debut wines too. They have even encouraged their young son, Achille, to get involved. His his own wine, Canon d’Achille, was an out-and-out hit the two years he made it - not bad for a 14 year-old! As well as being keen to try new things, in recent times this has often been ingenuity born from the various climactic struggles they have faced, as unseasonal frost and hail has caused severe losses for the family, as it has for many others. Alongside their Ardèchoise varietals, Méryl has also planted some hybrid vines, curious to see what potential they may hold in the future. Whatever the means, La Vrille et le Papillon wines are always fruit-driven, herbaceous and possess spry aromatic qualities; everything we love in wine from this region.
