Friday was bright and sunny with a pleasant Mistral breeze, ideal conditions for heading north out of Avignon towards the village of Séguret. This is the heart of Côtes du Rhône Villages territory where you find places such as Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise to name but three.
Our first stop was at Domaine de Mourchon. Owned by the McKinlay family, we had the pleasure of visiting here back in 2013. This estate has a wonderful location situated up a hill above the village of Séguret.
Second generation Kate McKinlay showed us round and it was great to see some of the changes and new developments over the past ten years. We took a walk up the hill to take in some simply stunning views and discuss the newly planted vineyard, climate change, hydric stress and many other viticultural matters. Kate combined great detail with family anecdotes and we strolled back down the hill into the winery.
After a quick tour of the cellar, we crowded round the tasting bar and embarked on a whirlwind tasting of their entire range. As ever, the Mourchon wines are terrific. Sebastian – their winemaker – has been at the estate almost since inception and has clearly mastered the terroir to yield high quality and make fabulous wines. Two whites and two rosés that contrasted unoaked and oaked styles, Côtes du Rhône Villages reds, predominantly pure Grenache and Syrah varietals, and even a Châteauneuf du Pape from fruit that they buy in. A sweetie and some amazing old Armagnac finished us off! This was a fabulous visit to start the day.
It was a short drive to a wonderful restaurant called La Bastide Bleue just outside the village of Séguret. We sat outside in a beautiful covered garden and enjoyed a delicious lunch of aubergine roulade, joues de porc and an apricot dessert.
There was just enough time for a power nap as we headed towards Beaumes de Venise and Domaine de Coyeux. This estate is also situated up a hill and got us really close to the famous Dentelles de Montmirail – the jagged rock features that dominate the local skyline. Coyeux was recently taken over and there was plenty of evidence of building work: an exciting winery was emerging. We strolled around the vines, took in the winery with their Belgian winemaker and learnt about the intricacies of making Muscat de Beaumes de Venise.
Ines Chelly hosted our visit and took us through a terrific tasting incorporating both dry Muscat and sweet Beaumes de Venise dating back to 2009, reds back to 2007 and a delicious Gigondas.
These were great wines and another insight into the nuances of the Southern Rhône. Some gentle strolling around Avignon beckoned for us in the evening.