LVT 2018 r 2015 wh 2015 rosé  Improving wines at a well-run Co-operative, that accounts for 70%+ of all Vinsobres, a good address if you stick to the non-oaked Vinsobres reds, including the organic Origine, which is VALUE. There are links with the Cellier des Dauphins at Tulette. 50 members work 250 hectares of Vinsobres. For many, a holding of around six hectares is common, with 15 ha a large vineyard. The rest – 450 hectares – is Côtes du Rhône, with some Vin de Pays.

Wine names are being changed, and there is a wide selection of them, so life is not straightforward for buyers. Vinsobres Diamant Noir can be the best red, with, from 2011, a new line of organic wines that is interesting - the Vinsobres Origine red and the Côtes du Rhône Terre de Jadis red. The Côtes du Rhône Cuvée La Delphinale red comes from Co-operateurs at Mirabel-les-Baronnies & Piégon, with vineyards at altitude, and the 2015 was a **** wine

LVT 2018 r 2011 wh This estate was bought by Louis Barruol of Château de Saint Cosme in 2018, that vintage jointy worked by him with Marc Ferrentino. It has been a good, reliable name at Vinsobres. It is a domaine with extensive vineyards that started to bottle a small proportion of its wine in 1998. Most of its wine is still sold in bulk. It was a property mainly growing olives when bought in 1960, and still makes its own Virgin Olive Oil. The wines come in a solid shape, and can show full, robust qualities.

LVT 2018 r 2019 wh 2019 rosé This is a good address for nicely made Côtes du Rhône, wines of restraint, while the Vinsobres red is also unforced, pretty stylish, the 2018 a ***(*) wine. Denis Valayer took over from his uncle Georges in 2000. The family come from the truffle centre of the Southern Rhône, the village of Richerenches. The 50 hectare vineyard has been worked organically since 2009. The first bottling was in 2011. The family have two retail outlets that sell their own olive oil, truffle products and lavender. 10 hectares of Vinsobres were added in 2017. Their cousin is Hubert Valayer who used to run Domaine de Deurre at Vinsobres, and now has a truffle-based shop in Nyons.

LVT 2011 r Soft, fruited wines, especially the Côtes du Rhône. Vinsobres can be heady and overdone

LVT 2018 r 2018 wh 2012 rosé  The wines are happily starting to be made in a more tender fashion, having been rather extracted in previous years. Husband Philippe [pictured] has handed over some of the vinification to son Thibaud, who has worked in New Zealand, and plays rugby. Since 1999, the cellar equipment has been more up-to-date than it used to be, with a large extension cellar built in 2019 as well. Raising of the Vinsobres red is all in concrete vat. The domaine has been organic since 2006, and is now biodynamic also. The care in the vineyards really shone through in the ****(*) 2018 Vinsobres red, along with the skilled blending that produced a wine of 50% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 15% Mourvèdre, 15% Cinsault, the last two bringing freshness and structure respectively: it is a high VALUE wine. The white Côtes du Rhône Villages can give pleasure. This is a domaine whose early promise is being delivered, with good fruit and stylish drinking from the Villages and Vinsobres wines.

LVT 2009 r A Belgian newcomer to Vinsobres. Gérard Constant still works a little in the Theme Park business, and spreads his time between Belgium (80% of the exports) and the Rhône. The wines are very well grounded, with enough body to be interesting, beyond their stylish outer casing. Fashionable adviser Philippe Cambie was hired in 2008.

LVT 2009 r Improvement since an uneven debut in early 2000s

LVT 2011 r 2012 wh A good, country domaine that makes Vinsobres and St-Maurice Côtes du Rhône Villages. Hubert Valayer is also a supplier of truffles, the Tuber Melanosporum. The domaine also provides accommodation.

LVT 2017 r This is a biodynamic domaine that I recommend strongly if you seek wines of character and a hand made feel. Cédric is well motivated, the fifth generation; he and his wife left the Co-operative La Vinsobraise in 2004, and started to make their own wine in 2005. His yields are restrained - 20-25 hl/ha for the Vinsobres and 35 hl/ha for the Côtes du Rhône.

The wines are vinified with low intervention, raised in concrete, and represent the best biodynamic clarity - they have a real spring in their step. The Vinsobres Emile red's oldest Grenache dates from the 1930s, and is usually **** to ****(*) wine. The limited edition Les Muses, max 1,500 bottles, comes from small terraces on Les Cornuds at 450 metres, where the cool soils allow the Syrah [half the wine, the other half Grenache, both 1970s] to really declare its style, clarity and quality, far away from the confection so often found in the Southern Rhône. The 2016 is just about a ***** wine, top notch Vinsobres, thus. In line with the economic realities of Vinsobres, a hard wine to sell, the volume of Vinsobres in bottle has fallen recently. 

Cédric also has truffle and olive trees, and in 2018 planted 0.5 hectare of white vines behind the house, half Bourboulenc, 25% Clairette blanche, 25% Grenache blanc. 

LVT 2018 r 2019 wh 2019 rosé  Traditional, STGT domaine, natural winemaking by low-key growers, with son Charles [pictured] now taking a prominent role; his younger brother Joseph is in charge of the vineyard. Very clear fruit, these are quality wines that are understated and refined, come in the camp of longer-lived Vinsobres, the small issue Cuvée Charles Joseph, half 1970s Serine, half Grenache, showing well over a good 20 years. The 2019 Côtes du Rhône rosé was a real winner, a **** mini-Tavel, both STGT and VALUE.  Up to 55% is sold in bottle (down from 65% in mid-2000s), the rest in local cubitainers.

LVT 2018 r Started in 2009 by an English woman, under five hectares; the 2018 Vinsobres red was a juicy, free flowing ***(*) wine.

LVT 2018 r 2019 wh 2019 rosé A progressive domaine that were trendsetters when I first met them in the early 1970s. Claude and Nicole Jaume had moved towards a clear fruit extraction long before their neighbours. The wines are modern but full, and age well. It is advisable to cellar the main two Vinsobres for 4-5 years to allow a fruit-oak integration. The straight Côtes du Rhône La Friande red is a great tooting wine, fruit forward in style. Quality is very consistent across the range in the three colours. A recent addition is a Vinsobres with zero added SO2, called Vinéa Natura; the **** 2018, half Grenache, half Syrah, was a genuine, clear tasting example of Vinsobres, where the height of the vineyards [450 metres] was used to good effect.

LVT 2007 r rosé A grower in his early thirties who took back the family vineyards from their rental agreement with a Co-operateur, and made his first wine in 2005. Unfortunately he found it very difficult to juggle all the commitments of the domaine and the selling of his wine, so Romain returned to the Cave La Vinsobraise in the late 2000s. He has also been involved in a vineyard planting project in Lebanon, and is keen on the Syrah, having worked with it at Yann Chave's Crozes-Hermitage domaine. He started with a good vintage. The 2006 also shows promsie.

LVT 2012 r 2015 rosé An English couple. Also have holiday gites. Traditional style wine, with improvement on the cards. The 2015 Cotes du Rhône rosé Carpe Diem was above average, a good table wine.

LVT 2014 r Jean-Luc Peysson is the fourth generation on the family vineyard. Previously the wine was sold off in bulk to merchants. Since 2001 he has started to bottle a proportion. The Vinsobres red is hearty and uncomplicated. The 2014 Côtes du Rhône Bio & Élégant red was an agreeable ***(*) wine. There is an organic certificiate for the domaine. Nyons olive oil is also made from the Tanche variety.

LVT 2019 wh  2018  r  Big change in 2012, when sold by the Durma family, owners since the 1920s. The new owner has a company at Nyons. This is a 60 hectare domaine. Signs are good. There are two Vinsobres reds, the Tradition a ready made sort of wine, 50% Grenache, 50% Syrah, vat raised. The Saint-Pierre, also 50-50 Grenache Syrah, is whole bunch oak vinified and raised, the 2018 a full, busy wine that needed a couple of years in bottle to assimilate its oak. White varieties were planted right away, led by Grenache blanc, and these give an oak raised Côtes du Rhône blanc, the oak carefully handled, the 2019 a careful,. rather fine ***(*) wine

LVT 2017 r 2019 wh  Solid style of wine from a good, reliable name. It is now both organic and biodynamic. Bottling has risen from 40% of the production to 90% under daughter Anaïs. The fruit quality is usually high. Quality is moving forwards under Anaïs, who has tightened things up, with the top Vinsobres of the three reds, the Le Haut des Côtes red, a ****(*) in 2015. I would highlight the VALUE in the **** 2016 Côtes du Rhône red, which includes white Bourboulenc and Clairette blanche. There is a handy Côtes du Rhône blanc called Le Haut des Côtes, 60% Viognier, 25% Gren blanc, 15% Clair blanche, aided by the vineyards at 320 metres, and lightly oaked - it is genuine, traditional, good table wine. The domaine title changed to Vallot Le Coriançon then Domaine Vallot in the early 2010s.

LVT 2019 r  Vinsobres was brought into the Perrin of Beaucastel stable from 2000. The ex-Domaine de Gramenon vineyard supplies the Hauts de Julien from terraces behind the farm there. The Bicarelle vineyards are also mature, and this is now an important address for top notch, real pedigree Vinsobres. The style is for ripe wine with plenty of content and good, streamlined fruit. Oaking is light.

LVT  2010  r  Biodynamic vineyards give this purchased wine. Emmanuel Poulet makes a very good Clairette de Die. This is a good Vinsobres, made in limited quantities.

LVT 2018 r 4 hectares, a domaine purchased in 2011, the vineyard re-planted and revived, on a very good site called Les Côtes. The now restored house was known locally as the Maison des Chiens Maigres [the House of the Thin Dogs], because the old owner was a chasseur-hunter, and his dogs were always thin. It’s a partnership between an American sommelier who worked in California and New York and a Frenchman. The Syrah is on the highest land. The cellar was renewed in 2016. The Vinsobres red has a nice and relaxed style, with a hint of oaking, the emphasis on quality fruit. The 2018 was a **** wine.