Raw Wine Paris - March 23' & New Wines!

Raw Wine is the movement founded by French woman, Isabelle Legeron, which promotes wines made in an authentic and natural way, using only organic grapes and making wine in a minimum intervention manner. This means using only the naturally occurring yeasts on the grape skins and rejecting mechanical methods to control fermentation or 'adjust' the wine. Isabelle operates from London and had taken her natural wine tastings around northern Europe and North America before holding her first Raw Wine event in her native land in early March this year.

Raw Paris 2023 was wonderfully diverse event. Not by any means dominated by French winemakers but thoroughly pan-European with a very strong Italian representation and an ever-increasing number of wineries from further east as far as Georgia and Ukraine.

It was our first foreign wine trip in a few years and we made some great discoveries. The first to arrive is French. Domaine Wilfried in the southern Rhône, where, Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and Carignan dominate. The domain has been working organically for over 20 years and certified since 2009. To start, there's Vin des Copains. It's what the French call 'Vin de Soif'. It means thirst wine but refers to a light, fresh, summer red that is best served a little cool but not cold. It sings of ripe berries but carries enough tannin to want to be drunk with food. After that, there is a super Côtes du Rhône, 'L'Affable' and onto the single village wines of Cairanne and Rasteau which are deeper more structured wines, both 2018 vintage and with plenty of ageing potential too.

Watch this space for new arrivals.

Sacha