2019 Ad Vinum Confidence

WINEMAKER: Sébastien Châtillon
VARIETAL: Grenache Noir, Syrah, Ugni Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc
REGION: Côtes du Rhône, FR
VITICULTURE: Organic

60% Grenache Noir, 15% Syrah, 15% Ugni Blanc, 10% Sauvignon Blanc 12 day maceration in a mille-feuille method of the four grape varieties. Aged in one single barrel for 18 months. Amazing red hue in the glass. So much complexity with the potential to age very gracefully. Very varietal and a true representation of Grenache grown on limestone. Savoury and saline. Seb’s top wine from what was a very challenging harvest in 2019.

In 2016 after seven years working as the head sommelier of Le Chateaubriand in Paris, Sébastien Châtillon moved to Vallabrix in the Gard and started making wine.

When Seb was younger, every Saturday he’d find himself drinking in the cave of a friend’s father until the wee hours. This went on for quite a while and eventually Seb decided that if he was going to continue drinking wine until five o’clock in the morning, then perhaps he should learn how to make it. He ended up working with René Mosse in the Loire for four years and discovered the world of natural wine.

Seb fell in love with the Gard because within a relatively small area, you find an incredibly diverse number of grapes, climates and soils. He has recently purchased his own vineyard, a three hectare parcel of Grenache, Syrah and Sauvignon amongst the garrigue above the village of Vallabrix, which supplements the grapes he harvests from the vineyards of trusted friends.

Once the grapes reach the cave, Seb exercises both creativity and restraint, putting his masterful palate to work blending grapes from different parcels, varieties and colours. The wines age in a variety of vessels and are bottled unfiltered, with no additions.