LVT 2018 r 2017 wh 2018 rosé Traditional wines, up and down quality. The inner Arnoux family own 18 hectares, which extends to 40 hectares when the cousins are included. The Vacqueyras range has improved since the early 2010s. Try the Seigneur de Lauris, for instance, which is also good in the Gigondas, with the 2018 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Seigneur de Lauris a genuine, aromatic **** wine. Of the 2016s, the leading Vacqueyras were the Vieux Clocher and the Cuvée 1717 [only released after over three years, new oak raising], both **** wines. The Côtes du Rhône Villages Genus red was **** in 2014, when tasted pre-bottling; the Genus range [includes Vacqueyras red and Ventoux red] is now organic.

LVT 2013 r  Very reliable source of traditionally style reds, led by the Vacqueyras, where the Cherons have been established for several decades

LVT 2016 r 2017 wh Recently established domaine with definite promise, is converting to organic. The Vacqueyras white is all northern Rhône, the three varieties of Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier, with 50% oaking a good restraint, the 2017 [very good white year at Vacqueyras] a ***(*) wine. The Vacqueyras red Origine was a stubborn, traditional hot sun *** wine in 2016.

LVT 2017 r 2018  wh  A very reliable source of traditional, good VALUE Vacqueyras, emphasis on hearty drinking with a softening over time, which repays patience. The vineyards are less treated than in the past, with daughter Corine steering things along. There is strong vintage respect, so the 2012 was juicy and detailed, while the 2013 was tight, wrapped up.

The vintages 2011 to 2015 inclusive of the classic red wine, called Cuvée du Château since 2013, were all ****, as was the 2018, while the 2017 was a ****(*) VALUE wine, a good result for a wine of 75,000 bottlesd, which makes it one of the largest domaine cuvées at Vacqueyras. An old vines wine, called Vertige des Gouttes, was made in 2014 and 2015; 60% Grenache (oldest 1940s), 40% Mourvèdre, it is less interesting than the classic red. The whites carry definite local character, go their own way, and are absolutely suited to la table. Under oenologue Emmanuel Gagnepain, they have improved, and the 2017 was a real bonny ****(*) STGT wine.

LVT 2009 r  2008  wh  From the Rayas stable, with the qualities implied by that. Very good Côtes du Rhône red and white as well.

LVT 2018 r 2013 wh Sound name. The 2018 Vacqueyras red held good life and an open offer, a **** wine. There are good whites as well. An easy drinking Gigondas was added to the range in 2010. There is also a Massif d'Uchaux Villages red.

LVT 2015 r Marc Faraud has a business at Sablet with products for vineyards and the cellar, enzymes etc. Bernadette has worked at the Syndicat des Vignerons. Marc, the brother of Jean-Luc Faraud of Mas des Restanques, was a Co-operateur at Vacqueyras until 2007. The first, limited, bottling was 2003. Some is sold in bulk, and in the low harvest years of 2013, 2016 and 2017, no wine was made, the crop in 2017 sold to the Cave de Gigondas. Son Romain works at Château La Courançonne on the Plan de Dieu; he has worked in Australia, and locally chez Pascal and Arnoux. He does the vinification. The first part destemming was in 2014, from 2015 all the crop was destemmed. The wines are genuine, direct in style, nicely sturdy, true children of their place. The Tradition is vat only raised, the Alliance half oaked. The 2015 Tradition was a **** wine. There is also a good Vin de France red called entr’amis. Prices are very fair.

LVT  2011  r  Part of Domaine La Garrigue

LVT 2018 r An organic domaine, first wine in 2010, where Adrien hit problems with a very long maceration and raising on his Gigondas, ending in him not issuing the final wine. I have left notes up to give an idea, however. By the 2014 vintage, he had halved the vinification from four to two weeks. The policy in 2011 was to continue with whole bunch fermentation, but bottling in October following the harvest - one winter too soon, in my view, but financial needs must. The raising in concrete by the 2014-15 vintages was around 18 months, and now is within one year, the style lighter. The Gigondas vineyards are above 400 metres.

Adrien Roustan (1987) did Burgundian studies – two years on viticulture at Beaune and one year on commerce at Dijon. His grandfather Raymond Bertrand sold his wine to the merchant trade. He works part of his grandfather's 13.14 hectare vineyard. Bottle numbers have risen - the Vacqueyras from 4,000 to 18,000, for instance. Marked promise, a name to note, with the 2015 Vacqueyras red a harmonious and full southern wine, ****(*) quality. The wines are organic.

LVT  2010  r   Since 1960 wine has been vinified, when the cellar was bought. 1st bottling was 1979, with Pierre Marseille taking over in 1981. Mature vineyards a help. Some wine is bottled now, not all. Full wines in the best vintages. Also a vin de pays.

LVT 2013  Decent traditional approach. Also have small vineyards at Beaumes-de-Venise, Gigondas Côtes du Rhône and Vin de Pays. Cyril's father Roland sadly died in 2014.

LVT  2018 r 2018 rosé Coralie is the sister of Jeremy Onde [Domaine Les Ondines], and started in 2008 with 3 hectares. Now a total of 9.2 hectares, inc 0.5 he of vin de pays, all in the commune of Sarrians. The conversion to organic started in 2011, from 2014 that was official. The jewel is the 1967 Grenache on Cabridon on Les Garrigues, which had been worked organically since its year of plantation when Coralie bought it in 2008. Of the 320 HL, around 100 HL is sold in bulk to aid cash flow, given the investment in land since 2008. There will be white wine from 2020. The 2008 and 2009 were vinified at Domaine Les Ondines, then the 2010 onwards were vinified at Duplessy, a contractor for that service, at Jonquières, until 2014, when the wines have been made chez Damien Rozier at Travaillan, the Domaine Rose-Dieu a producer of Plan de Dieu among other wines. Raising was reduced from 15 months to 8 months from the 2014 vintage. Grainy style, genuine red, improving, the 2015 and 2016 Vacqueyras classic red [concrete vat raised 8 months] ***(*) wines. Coralie favours fruit and expects her wines to be drunk young.

LVT 2016  r 2015 rosé 2017 wh A new, and much needed good, even very good name at Vacqueyras. Three reds, and rosé as well from 26 hectares. The vineyard is mature, on the lieu-dit La Verde, all around the cellar. The wine used to be sold in bulk to Rhône Valley merchants. The soils are varied, though, with sand in the east towards the River Ouvèze, good for Grenache, with more deep clay soils towards the north, where Mourvèdre is grown.

LVT 2018 r 2017 wh 2007 rosé Sound, clear-cut wines, consistent, too. The vineyards are organic. Elegance is favoured over power. The Vacqueyras Mélodine white is very stylish, a really go do, as in 2014, for example. The Gigondas Adage can be fruit-forward, suited to the restaurant trade, with the 2018 a step above that, carrying authority and a good sense of origin, a VALUE **** wine.

LVT 2017 r 2017  wh This is a good ranking organic domaine at Vacqueyras - wines with full, sometimes powerful abundance, a true garrigue imprint, the galet stone vineyards all around the domaine giving concentrated grapes. The Vacqueyras Les Genestes red is the old vines wine (oldest Grenache 1930s); it was a rocking ****(*) wine in 2016. The Vacqueyras white Les Amouriers is soft, with the 2015 very successful at **** and STGT, a very bonny table wine.

LVT 2017 r Rasonable only 2017 Gigondas the first encounter with a domaine that also does holiday homes, and has vineyards at both Vacqueyras and Gigondas

LVT 2018 r  2018 wh Jean Barnier created what is now a big nursey of young vine plants business in the 1980s, then the domaine in 1992. He had previously cultivated mixed fruit and vegetables. The nursery business mostly covers domaines of the Vaucluse, and is run by Céline. It sells 40 grape varieties. The domaine vineyards is 100 hectares, 14 ha of Vacqueyras, 13 ha of Côtes du Rhône, the rest Vin de Pays. All three Vacqueyras reds are from their own vineyards.

The three Vacqueyras reds present good quality. The Castillon, **** in 2014 and 2017, has a high proportion of Syrah, 40% at least. The 2,000 bottle Pince Lapin red, half Grenache, half Syrah, was a really good drinking, generous **** wine in 2017, and also **** in 2016. The 73 hectares of Vin de Pays at Sarrians give large scale production wines, efficient above all.

LVT 2016 r Newcomer with a small vineyard at Sarrians. Unsteady start, harvesting in early October a surprise for 2016

LVT 2018 r 2018 wh A singular domaine - father spoke Provencal, was an intellectual-agrarian. and his daughters have worked on the domaine since the 1970s, with Marie-Thérèse Combe also an accomplished artist. Fourmone is Latin for fromentum = le froment or blé (wheat) which was grown on these lands until 100 years ago. These are fine-grained, unshowy wines, both Vacqueyras and Gigondas. Vinification was reduced from 30-40 days to 3-4 weeks in 2006, and there is also less intervention since the late 2000s.

The Vacqueyras Le Poète red was a great VALUE ****(*) wine in 2018; made from 70% Grenache, 30% Syrah, the Syrah has been well handled in the recent hot vintages to avoid excess, while the age of the vines - the youngest late 1970s - gives the wine good foundation. Concrete vat raised, it represents a very good example of high quality, value for money Vacqueyras red. The white Vacqueyras le Fleurantine is light, elegant, and has been smartened up by a change from concrete to temperature controlled steel vat fermentation, with brightness added by raising 50% in steel vat (90% concrete vat previously): the 2018 was a stylish, detailed **** wine. The 2015 Gigondas le Fauquet was **** genuine, local wine. Raising has been sometimes drastically reduced - le Secret, the oaked Gigondas, from 22-24 months to 4-5 months, as in 2015, which was a **** wine. Son Albin and daughter Fleurantine now work on the domaine.

LVT 2018 r 2017 wh 2017 rosé Traditional, full wines from the same family as the excellent Les Florets Hotel at Gigondas. They can lack freshness recently. There are three to four Vacqueyras reds, with the Canterelle Vacqueyras red is a real winner, from 90-100 year Grenache. The Gigondas was an excellent ****(*) STGT ansd VALUE wine in 2018, near the top of the class.

LVT 2018 r 2018 wh 2019 rosé 2016 Muscat VDN Philippe Bernard is an ex-Co-operateur from the Cave de Vacqueyras, which he left for good in 2010, the last crop sent there the 2009. The first vintage was 2008, with some Vacqueyras bottled, nothing else. Spread across several appellations, and half the domaine is in vineyards [58 hectares], the other half is a nursery plant practice. The reds can be good, but lack a little flair. The entry level Le Mourre de la Caille Vacqueyras red contains around 15% Mourvèdre, whose stems can be included, a helpful move in the hot summers of recent times; the 2018 was a vibrant, generous **** wine. The Point G Vacqueyras red [translates as G full stop/period] is the old 1930s Grenache wine, only up to 3,000 bottles, the 2015 a good pedigree **** wine. The Vacqueyras white from Le Chemin Blanc is based on Clairette and Roussanne, and is a firm, grounded table wine, good with Mediterranean classics. There is a stylish Muscat de Beaumes, while the Beaumes-de-Venise red Les Garennes can produce the goods, as it did in 2016 with a **** STGT wine. The vineyards have been organic since 2008-09.

LVT 2018 r 2018 wh 2015 rosé Leading name at Vacqueyras, stylish wines, good fruit quality. The Vacqueyras Vielles Vignes red can be complex, as in 2013, and thoroughly excellent as in 2016. The 2 Monardes red is more open, while the Calades red is bottled after six months for early drinking. The Vacqueyras Galéjade white is made from Roussanne, Grenache blanc and Clairette, and gives authentic, firm drinking for la table. There is a good vin de pays red MON. Son Damien [pictured] is now at the helm, and is pursuing cool, clear-cut fruit in the wines, with Grenache ripeness less advanced than in the past. The vineyards are worked organically.

LVT 2018 r 2014 rosé 2017 wh  6 hectares have been sold, reducing to 14 hectares, 12 of them Vacqueyras. The domaine has been organic since 1989. I helped on the 1974 harvest! This is a good address, the wines coming with all-important character. The Vacqueyras fruit sauvage red was a discreet, textured **** Thinker's wine in 2015, a cool, well balanced **** wine in 2016, and a wine with a flared bull's nostril effect in a colourful, challenging **** 2018. A Gigondas red has recently been added, the 2018 a **** sparkly, polished, well balanced wine, ahead of many in that tricky year. A very good Vacqueras white, 80% Grenache blanc, 20% Clairette was introduced from vines planted in 2010-12, the 2017 a **** wine; it is raised in oak.

LVT 2019 r 2018 wh A very good source of Vacqueyras, and a full Gigondas. Good VALUE, and very consistent. The 2015 Gigondas La Tour Sarrasine red is a VALUE example, a ****(*) wine cheaper than most in the appellation, while the 2016 was also up to ****(*) quality. Interesting white, food-friendly Vacqueyras that lives well, too: **** in 2017.

LVT 2016 r 2017  wh  Solid wines that can be a bit rustic, but express local ID. The same goes for the Ventoux red. The Vacqueyras is organic.

LVT 2017 r 2015 wh 2011 rosé STGT lives truly at this domaine, with two consistent and terroir-expressive Vacqueyras reds, full of sun, pepper and inner strength, made by the utterly unassuming Guy Ricard. The Vieilles Vignes, oldest Grenache 1917, youngest Grenache 1945, is a little deeper than the Classique, but both are genuine, middle to long-term perfomrers of high quality and interest. Among the lesser names, the Vin de Pays red was a ***(*) VALUE wine in 2013, a fab VALUE also in 2015 and 2016. The Côtes du Rhône red in 2013 was a ***(*) STGT wine, as was the **** Vacqueyras Laura white in 2015

LVT 2017 r 2018 wh Top name, organic for years, biodynamic since 2011. Lopy is the top wine, made every year, and is the first selection from his cellar. It is always between **** and *****, the latter the case in 2010 and 2016. There is also Oumeto, which can be 100% old Grenache (mainly 1940s), and is produced in limited 1,500 bottle amounts. The title of the principal red wine rotates as Serge names it after his three daughters, one year at a time. So Floureto was the title in 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2004, 2001 etc. The other two are Doucinello (2017, 2014 etc) and Azalaïs (2015, 2012 etc). Serge officially "retired" on 1 October 2015, having arrived on the domaine in 1979. His son Frédéri is very enthusiastic about the vineyard, and is working well. He is gradually reducing the old Syrah for the Lopy wine, stating, quite correctly, that the Plateau de Garrigues is too hot for it. This is very much in the top three domaines of Vacqueyras, and the wines can be cellared for a couple of decades.

LVT 2018 r  2018  wh 2014 rosé 2015 Muscat 40 hectare domaine, crop sold to merchant trade by father Robert until son Jérémy started in 2000. Good level of quality, emphasis on fruit and free drinking wines. The Vacqueyras Passion red is the wine to concentrate on; first produced in 2015 from older vines, the 2016 was very pure, a real treat of a ***** wine, while the **** 2017 captured place and vintage well. The Vacqueyras white Passion is good, too: **** in 2016 and ***(*) in 2015. The domaine converted to organic in 2009. There are also 2.5 hectares of strawberries.

LVT  2018  r  Promising; very small quantities of clear drinking Vacqueyras and Gigondas: firm wines, can age well. The small issue Vacqueyras Vieilles Vignes [around 2,500 bottles] is centred on 1950s Grenache, and the 2017 was an STGT wine of great character in 2017. Its confrère the Séduction Vacqueyras is from slightly younger vines, and was a fresh, dark **** wine in 2017. The 2015 Gigondas red was a most delightfully pure ****(*) wine, the 2016 a large scale ****(*) wine. Organic methods are applied where possible. There are also 800 bottles of a pure Mourvèdre Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with a very good ****(*) 2016, up to comparison with top grade Bandol red [which is a compliment].

LVT  2012  r Very traditional style. Bernard Chabran is the 4^th generation; first bottling by his father Claude in 1981. There are also two bed and breakfast rooms and two gîtes, small houses to let.

LVT 2018 r 2018  wh  STGT qualities here, with vineyards from the 1970s and earlier, the domaine in the family since 1936. Very good Gigondas, too, although there can be a wild, unkempt side to the wines, as in the 2014 Gigondas. The 2016 Gigondas was an attractive, local-styled **** wine. The Vacqueyras Le Penchant blanc has gentle qualities encouraged by the 50% Roussanne.

LVT  2012  r  Vinified chez Sang des Cailloux, mostly sold in Asia. Pretty Wild Child wine. From 2012 the domaine has been known as Les Semelles de Vent.

LVT 2019 r 2019 wh 2019 rosé  This is a biodynamic and organic domaine, a leading name, concrete vat only handling, no oak. The wines can be hidden when young, so patience is rewarded. The Vacqueyras Le Clos red is stylish, can be STGT wine, even if it is expensive. Very charming, above average **** Vacqueyras rosé in 2014, from 100% Grenache. The white Vacqueyras Minéral is 50% Bourboulenc, providing an interesting, cool **** wine in 2015. The 2016 Gigondas Terres des Aînés red was a striking ****(*) wine when tasted from the vat. The wines are certified for vegans and gluten free. Note the w.o.w. charm of the ***(*) IGP Vaucluse Les Violettes Syrah red in 2017.

LVT  2014  r  6 hectare estate, starting out with a limited bottling. Some heart but excess cellarwork an issue

LVT 2018 r 2015 wh 2014 rosé  The fusion with the Cave de Beaumes-de-Venise has created a new name, yet another one, this time that of Rhonéa. There is a plethora of wines, many of them light. Some improving whites. The best red Vacqueyras is the Domaine de la Pertiane. A few domaine reds showed an advance in 2012 - the now organic Vacqueyras and Gigondas Domaine Carobelle (their 2015 Gigondas a ***(*) wine, and the 2017 a **** STGT wine), the Grand Prieur and the Vieilles Vignes (also in 2014), for example. This was followed by further progress in 2016, with the Domaine du Grand Prieur an STGT **** wine, and the large production Fontimple also slotting in as a ****(*), complete, STGT wine. I note that the Vacqueyras vineyards under their collected Co-operateurs have fallen from 550 hectares to 450 hectares in 2016.

In 2019, Rhonéa started to bottle Rasteau for La Cave de Rasteau, and to sell their wines under the Rhonéa label, including a Tradition red and a Terroir Daronton red.

LVT 2018 r 2014 wh 2015 rosé This is a singular domaine, with wines of character. 65% sold to Perrin at Beaucastel. Low sulphur use, big vineyard care, great commitment from the determined Eric Bouletin, who is a man happiest in his vineyards. The Vacqueyras Les Restanques de Cabassole red was a **** STGT wine in 2017, a wine of full vigour and full colour, which is topped up with 3% white grapes.

LVT  2010  r

LVT 2016 r An authentic selection of merchant wines under the name Charles Tort, an ancestor of the family. These are from carefully chosen domaines in the area around Vacqueyras; the two Villages reds, Plan de Dieu and Sablet, were both rock steady ***(*) wines in 2016, the Plan de Dieu from the Domaine Martin at Travaillan