Domaine L'Agramante
Domaine L’Agramante
The story of L'Agramante is one you have certainly heard before. It's a story that weaves it's way into every corner of human existence and one that the year 2020 brought to the fore for many. Carlo La Rocca, originally from Sicily but working in France, found himself looking at his life in 2018 and feeling unfulfilled. His career was in engineering but his passion was in wine. So he quit a successful career and set out to make a new life based around the rhythms of nature in the southern Rhone Valley of France. He bought a 1.2 HA plot of vines in the town of Sabran and began the search for a cellar to make the wine. He was able to acquire more vines - growing to 4.25 HA, but was unable to find a Cellar. Eventually he was allowed to share space in the cellar of the biodynamic producer Mas de Libian. This arrangement ended up being very fortuitous as Carlo was able to consult with them and learned from them as he started his new journey. The farming has been organic and the winemaking very hands-off from the beginning. There is no oak involved and the wines are bright, charming and very refreshing on multiple levels.
L’Agramante M’Arricriu Vin de France
Iu m’arricriu translates roughly to “I enjoy the life” in the Sicilian dialect of Carlo’s home. This wine has a higher percentage of Cinsault and half the maceration time of his other wine, Ciaülà. It is the easier, more light hearted of the two. It is an homage to the feeling that drove Carlo to uproot his life and dive head first into wine. It is the perfect wine to remind us to slow down and enjoy the life.
+ Technical Details
VARIETIES: 35% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, 25% Syrah, 10% Counoise
CLASSIFICATION: Vin de France
VINEYARDS: Goblet trained vines on a windy, South facing, site with terraces. The soils have a high percentage of sand and silt. Vine age is 16 to 60 years old.
FARMING: Organic
WINEMAKING: Hand harvested with grape selection in the vineyard. All varieties are destemmed and co-fermented by plot with native yeast. 6 day macertion with daily pumpovers before 5 month aging in stainless steel. No fining or filtering before bottling. Minimal SO2.
L’Agramante Ciaülà Côtes du Rhône
Ciaülà means Crow in Sicilian. It references a character in an old story who works in the mines and one day, while exiting the mines, looks up and sees the moon and realizes the beauty for the first time. The deeper meaning is if you never look up from your work, you may miss your dreams. Older vine Grenache and longer maceration give this cuvée more depth and structure while still being fresh and bright.
+ Technical Details
VARIETIES: 60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 10% Cinsault, 5% Counoise
CLASSIFICATION: Côtes du Rhône
VINEYARDS: Goblet trained vines on a windy, South facing, site with terraces. The soils have a high percentage of sand and silt. Vine age is 16 to 60 years old.
FARMING: Organic
WINEMAKING: Hand harvested with grape selection in the vineyard. All varieties are destemmed and co-fermented by plot with native yeast. 12 day macertion with daily pumpovers before 10 month aging in stainless steel. No fining or filtering before bottling. Minimal SO2.