Domaine Gallety Côtes du Vivarais Rouge, Rhône, France, 2016

Overview of the Wine

If the king of the southern Rhône—Grenache—married the queen of the northern Rhône—Syrah—and had a beautiful child that bore the best features of each, that prince would be Domaine Gallety’s red Côtes du Vivarais. Here, in the small commune of Saint-Montan, halfway between Cornas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Alain Gallety and his son David-Alexandre grow Syrah and Grenache and craft this rouge with equal parts of each. Syrah’s savoriness and notes of pepper, together with Grenache’s stoniness, are balanced by an open-knit structure and ripe juiciness that make this wine ready to drink today. Because Côtes du Vivarais is less well known than the storied appellations of the North and the South, this red stands among France’s best values.

Alain takes every aspect of the process seriously. To grow the quality of grapes he wants, he farms his fifteen hectares of vineyards organically, as he has done since the early 80’s. To best ensure freshness, he has installed top-loading, hatch doors over their gravity-fed tanks, so that the grapes go exactly where they need to immediately following the harvest—bypassing the cellar completely to begin their fermentation. The wines are then aged in Burgundian barrels, as the Galletys believe them to produce wines with greater finesse. Today, they are planting a vineyard so stony and wild that it will have to be worked by a draft horse. Alain Gallety is indeed a man of vision. 

Winemaker: Alain Gallety
Vineyard: 40 years average, 13.8 ha
Soil: Clay, Limestone
Aging: Wine is aged in neutral oak barrels for about 15 months
Farming: Organic (practicing)

Grape / Blend
50% Syrah, 50% Grenache

Origin
Appellation: Côtes du Vivarais
Country: France
Region: Southern Rhône

Product size: 750ml