Domaine du Petit Oratoire, En Attendant les Copains Rouge 2023, VdF, Southern Rhone, France

Lori Haon is a young winemaker, first in his family, trained in Alsace, Burgundy and Champagne. He found his 15 hectare vineyard on Ebay, as you do, and started producing wines there in 2015. Vines are farmed organically, without chemical or synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or weedkillers and the wines made without added sulphites or other chemicals.

After having one of the hottest summers on record in 2022, '23 was one of the wettest vintages on record in the Gard, full of incessant thunderstorms and rainfall! Lori and the team battled mildew and were only able to save 50% of the year's yield.

Lori aims to champion indigenous varieties to the Rhone such as Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan and had the intention of moving away from too much use of Syrah as it was only introduced to the region after the war, however the indigenous varieties struggled in the sodden conditions of 2023 as he lost almost all of his Grenache. Whist the Syrah struggles in the heat, it proved to be remarkably resistant to mildew and was one of the few varieties that managed to produce a healthy yield. 

So this year's rendition of Les Copains Rouge sees a switch up in the blend, infusing what survived of his whole bunch indigenous varieties with direct press Syrah to disguise its usual dominant characteristics.

A bright and crunchy classic Rhone blend from Lori. Super fresh and gluggable. 

Producer - Domaine du Petit Oratoire
Country - France
Region - Rhone
Sub-Region - Valliguieres, Cotes du Rhone    
Variety / Blend - Cinsault, Grenache, Carignan, Syrah    
Wine Style - Red Wine   
Farming - Organic    
Sulphate free