GSM, Vignoble Anne Collard

50% Grenache/20% Mourvèdre/20% Marselan/10% Syrah

Anne Collard, who runs the Château Mourgues du Grès with her husband Francois, always wanted to have vines in the Côtes du Rhône. In 2019, she found a great site just six kilometers north of Mourgues du Grès that was everything she was looking for. She purchased 30 hectares in Comps, a Côtes du Rhône Villages, which is in the confluence of the Rhône River, on a north-facing hillside. They mostly have Grenache, along with Mourvèdre and Carignan. Comps is the southernmost village in the Côtes du Rhône appellation and it’s a particularly windy area, convenient for organic agriculture. The soil is very rocky, with steep slopes. Anne’s son manages the vineyards, and they began immediately to convert to organic and biodynamic farming.

The wines are made at Mourgues du Grès, in a new part of the cellar, in new tanks. They are not using any sulfites during winemaking or aging, and the fermentations start spontaneously with indigenous yeasts. The wines are made in concrete vats that are not epoxy lined and the wines stay in the same cement tank until they are bottled, generally after about eight to twelve months of aging. They are making two cuvées, a Côtes du Rhône and a Côtes du Rhône “Aube” that is made with the oldest vines, fifty years-old average. 2020 was an excellent vintage and the first to be released.