‘Les Coteaux’ Ctes du Rhne Villages by Domaine Boutinot is a little more serious than it’s previous vintage! Brambly fruit underpinned by subtle oaky nuances, lovely sweet spice; warm star anise with a touch of cinnamon. This classic Ctes du Rhne Villages is enriched with specially-selected parcels from the cru vineyards of Sguret, Sablet and Cairanne.

A delicious accompaniment to hearty food: grilled meats, meaty sausages with mash or, as would be served in France, with puy lentils; shepherd’s pie, mushroom ragot or simply a good pizza.

About the Producer

Boutinots love affair with the Southern Rhne spans thirty years of making wine in the region. In 2010, the relationship was sealed with the purchase of a winery and vineyards above the village of Cairanne. Domaine Boutinots seven vineyards are planted with classic southern Rhne grape varieties old vine Grenache Noir and Syrah, Mourvdre and Carignan Noir and they all sit within the Cairanne Cru boundaries, sanctioned in 2016 when Cairanne was granted its own appellation status.

Working with their vigneron neighbours Boutinot are helping to revive traditional grape varieties such as Cinsault and Counoise. In the cellar they use the time-honoured winemaking methods such as a long cuvasion aided only by natural yeasts, gentle remontage, manual pigeage and patient maturation in a nursery of French oak barrels.

Vineyard and Winery

Common practice in the Ctes du Rhne is to bottle the best cuves as a single, named, village wine and the rest as more basic Ctes du Rhne Villages. Boutinots philosophy, on the other hand, is to start with the intention of making the very best Ctes du Rhne Villages possible by sourcing wine from the vineyards of named villages, and enriching them with a small proportion of barrel-aged wine from Sablet and Sguret. Boutinot’s Ctes du Rhne Villages ‘Les Coteaux’ is therefore a selection of the best Grenache Noir and Syrah from some of the 17 named Ctes du Rhne Villages. We source wine from a number of growers with exceptional terroir and so have the flexibility to select only the very best fruit each vintage (rejecting parcels which do not meet our high standards). Mostly unoaked, a small proportion (15%) is part-aged for up to 20 months in a few new, but mostly older, oak barrels to bring depth and subtle notes of complexity.