2020 Autour de L’Anne Anagramme Rouge

Region: Languedoc < France

Grapes: Grenache

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Biodynamic farming; limestone and red clay soils; harvest is done by hand, spontaneous fermentation in concrete tanks with indigenous yeasts, followed by aging in tank; bottled unfined and unfiltered, with no added sulfur; zero zero; 13% ABV

• Woman winemaker + owner - Anne Paillet!
• Sweet red fruit with a green, herbal edge
• Juicy berry blast in a wet forest
• Chillable red!

More about Autour de L’Anne

Anne Paillet worked in finance in Paris, until a bad car accident forced her to reexamine her life, at which point she ditched corporate life to make wine. She’s married to one of the Loire’s top natty producer Gregory Leclerc of Chahut et Prodiges (a Rock Juice fav), so she already knew the ropes. But Anne didn't want to make the same wines as Gregory, so she rented about six acres of biodynamic vineyards from a friend in Coteaux du Languedoc.  She assists with the end of the growing season, then harvests the grapes (on the early side) and guides the fermentations, before trucking the wine back up to the Loire in bulk containers to finish Touraine style. Which is why her wines tends to be more similar to Loire wines than the Languedoc. The early pick avoids heaviness and high alcohol, and the Loire treatment leads to lighter, more terroir-expressive wines.