Rhône & Loire

THE RHôNE:
In olden days, (circa 1980 to be honest) the UK wine trade and that in France talked about the three “big” appellations that provided the bulk of French AC wines: Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône and Bordeaux. Today, the discerning drinker is drawn increasingly to the Rhône for great value, ripe fruity reds; and the growers of Beaujolais and Bordeaux are languishing behind. What the Rhône has is fruit, colour, spice and flavour!

Maison Carrée is the Roman temple situated in the ancient city of Nîmes, within the heart of the Rhône, and is the name of a range of wines produced by 'Les Vignerons Createurs'. The range covers two major regions: Côtes du Rhône, and Costières de Nîmes. Costières de Nîmes, the lesser known of the two regions, has been flagged by leading UK wine journalists as the up and coming appellation from the Southern Rhône Valley.

THE LOIRE:
Long river, lots of vineyards, wide range of quality...so where to start? Much as we like some of the more obscure AC’s (both red and white) the core of our business is working with good domaines in the classic regions. We've been importing wines from Domaine les Chaumes, owned by the Bardin family, for many years and the long history of the Domaine is testament to the excellent wines they produce; indeed many of Jean-Jacques Bardin's 23 hectares of vines have been in the family since the 1850's making them a true family grower.