Rhône Blend, Anne Pichon 'Sauvage' Gris Montagne

60% Grenache/30% Syrah/10% Carignon

Anne Pichon and her late husband, Marc Pichon, started an agrarian-bohemian life together in the 1990’s when they moved into an abandoned farm house at the base of Mont Ventoux. They began to resurrect a defunct domaine called Murmurium, meaning “the buzzing song of bees.” And while the 15 hectare vineyard was in poor shape, the site was properly organic for many years leading up to Anne and Marc’s stewardship. Today, Anne produces no more than 40 barrels of wine for T. Edward along with her sister-in-law Véronique who manages the commercial affairs. The wines themselves are named “Sauvage” inspired by the Pichons’ respect for and attachment to nature.

Anne Pichon’s vineyard is dry, with cool, manually tilled soils that retain moisture when it rains and because of the Mistral that sweeps up from the hills below, fruit is less susceptible to rot and disease, providing an ideal environment for organic viticulture. Employing careful vineyard management, low yields and late harvesting, Pichon hand-harvests and destems all of the fruit. Reds are vinified in small 50 HL cement tanks or stainless steel, at low temperature to achieve a long maceration and two gentle pump overs daily, with additional manual punch downs if necessary. The fermentations extend 3 to 4 weeks with a slow progressive increase in temperature to extract a very fine tannin structure. The malolactic fermentation and ageing take place partly in oak barrels but mostly in cements tanks. White wines are made from only a light pressing of first run juice and vinified in stainless steel tanks with strict temperature control to maintain a balance of ripe fruit and freshness.

They use the youngest vines of the property to get a better aromatic profile. Processing and macerating the grapes at low temperatures avoids extra coloring of the must and preserves subtle aromas of the fruit.