Here is a sweet-natured, fragant Rhône wine.  It is lighter than some and openly appealing.  It is organic.  It is a little floral — more field flower than scented garden.  The taste is lively with just enough stone and wood at the back of our mouth to remind us that this is no summer-time idler, but a purposeful wine with its own place in history.

Cairanne is a village in the Vaucluse region — just north of the Mediterranean coast.   It is a place of formidable independence.  During the middle ages, Cairanne was a walled enclave of the Knights Templar.  Petrarch, the 14th century poet who is strongly associated with the humanist origins of the Italian Renaissance, lived and worked nearby in Avignon.  During World War II, members of the resistance formed the Vaucluse Republic.   These are people who know their own minds.

From such a place, we get the southern Rhône wines of Cairanne, Gigondas, and some 20 other villages.  The better wines, including Domaine Catherine Le Gœuil,  are listed within the AOC Côtes du Rhône Villages.  Mme Le Gœuil is a leader in the movement for biodynamic wines from small producers.  Her wine is a lovely example of the art.

Tuta 12/13/09

Available at the shop for $16.75