Handford Wines

While his family has ben growing grapes for 14 generations, Louis Barruol is the first of the clan to bottle his own wines, rather than sell grapes to local négociants. Indeed, Louis has become a négociant himself, sourcing grapes and wines throughout the Rhône valley and making an outstanding range of wines. The basic Côtes du Rhône puts most producers to shame, while the Gigondas made from his own estate fruit is always one of the top wines of the appellation. Louis makes his wine without fining and his wines are bottled unfiltered to produce exuberant fruit and flavour as well as lots of character. His wines remain one of our star finds and judging by all the great reviews he has received we are lucky to have found them when we did.

The Wine

This is a wine made just once every 5 or 6 years from a small vineyard of Grenache planted in 1902. The power and quality that this affords was amplified by a harvest date as late as 12th October, some 2 weeks after most Gigondas had been gathered. It is 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah aged this time in a mix of 1, 2 and 3 year old barrels; new oak would be the wafer thin mint here! Wear protective clothing when you open this and drink sitting down. An experience!

Single Bottle: £29.99

In a case of 12: £28.49