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Domaine Equis, Crozes Hermitage Rouge, Equinoxe, Northern Rhône, France, 2023

Product code: 5481

Producer Profile

We are thrilled to be distributing the wines of Alain Graillot's son, Maxime.

Maxime is in charge of Alain’s domaine and has added a small 6.5ha holding in Crozes, Domaine des Lises, to the portfolio. He also manages several other vineyards in Cornas, St Joseph and Crozes, selecting tiny parcels of the very best grapes to make the Equis range. They are made in the same vein as his father’s wines - the Equinoxe is a modern interpretation of Crozes for early drinking, whilst the Crozes Lises and St Joseph ignite in flavour after a year or two in bottle.

Viticulture

Whilst looking after family Domaine Graillot, eldest son Maxime has also cultivated his own small holding in Crozes, Domaine Equis, from 6.5ha of vines adjacent to the original St-Joseph and Cornas parcels owned by his father. On taking over in 2004 he reduced yields and converted the previously conventionally farmed vineyards to Organics, making sure soils were constantly ploughed (allowing the roots to dig deeper into the gravel) and banned the use of herbicides. The wines have a similar expressive and graceful style to those of Alain Graillot, but are a touch more fruit-forward thanks to greater use of destemming. ‘Domaine des Lises’ hails from a single vineyard rocky / gravel-based lieu-dit “Les Picheres” located in the most south-easterly part of Crozes Hermitage, planted in the 1980s. The vines are farmed organically and grapes are hand-harvested.

Winemaking

Grapes hand-sorted and partially de-stemmed with a pre-fermentation cooling of 3-5 days. Fermentation is in temperature-controlled vats over three weeks. 30% whole cluster fermentation with indigenous yeasts. Matured for 12-18 months in older Burgundy barrels (inc. Dujac, Arlot + Romanée-Conti): 10% new, 30% 1 year old, 60% 2-5 years old.