Domaine de Piaugier Cotes du Rhone Sablet

Pairs with: Braised pork shank with curried asparagus

Good for: Enjoying an evening close friends

Grape: Grenache, Syrah

I am from: Côtes du Rhône

The Story: Domaine de Piaugier’s vineyards are located in and around the village at the foot of the jagged Dentelles de Montmirail in the Vaucluse department. Here Jean-Marc Autran, son, grandson and great-grandson of wine growers, produced his first wine in 1985. It was made in the cellars built in 1947 by his great-grandfather Alphonse Vautour. Alphonse, who along the slopes of the Briguières hill had made all his wine in the family's original property, called Ténébi,decided to build the present cave on the road leading up to that property. 

The domaine has two great advantages: it is composed of a large number of small plots and therefore various soils, including sandy decalcified red clay, flint, clay, silt, chalk and gravel; and the vines—at between 25 and 50 years old—are in their full, rich, plentiful prime. The grapes are entirely hand-harvested, pressed and made into wine plot-by-plot, producing wines that are elegant and speak of an intense attention to detail.

Why You'll Love Me: This wine is replete with black fruits and pepper and has a pleasant smoothness on the palate and a finish that belies its underlying rusticity.