AURELIEN HOUILLON Vieilles Vignes 2018 Vin de France (Rhône Sud) 75cl Red

Grape variety: 100% Grenache Noir, from 70-year-old vines

Vinification: 100% destemmed, 14 weeks of maceration, aged in barrels

Founded in 2017 in Faucon (Vaucluse), the Aurélien and Charlotte Houillon estate has quickly made a name for itself. Coming from a family well known in the wine world, Aurélien is the brother of Emmanuel Houillon of the iconic Domaine Pierre Overnoy - talent clearly runs in the family. Like his brother, Aurélien trained with Pierre Overnoy himself, about as fine an apprenticeship as one can imagine, and joined the estate in 2007. He later gained further experience in Switzerland before setting out with his wife Charlotte to establish their own domaine.

The 9-hectare estate, located at the foot of Mont Ventoux, is a single contiguous plot composed of vineyards, woodland, and scrubland. The vines are organically farmed, with mechanical soil work and animal manure from the property used as fertiliser. As one might expect, given the family’s background, the winemaking is entirely natural and non-interventionist, with no additives or sulphur used.

Even the labels are natural: Charlotte Houillon, who originally earned a PhD in literature, is an expert in ancient manuscripts. She has mastered traditional techniques for making paper from plants and creating natural pigments. Each bottle is hand-labelled with paper made from vine shoots on-site. This explains why the labels are sensitive to humidity, but of course, it has no impact on the wine itself.

The wines from this young estate are extremely promising, offering a combination of depth, energy, and radiant fruit.