Domaine du Colombier

Thirty years ago, Domaine du Colombier was a simple fruit farm: extremely fine apricots were produced (still farmed to this day), while the grapes were sold to the local négociants in Tain l’Hermitage (including some to the famous Guigal family). Come 1991, the Viale family followed what is now a well-trodden, and well-documented path, deciding to go their own way. The emphasis here is on the purity of the fruit – oak only plays a minor role in the ageing process, and even then, the barrels are 600 litres ‘demi-muids’, rather than the smaller 225-litre ‘barriques’ that can have a much bigger influence on the finished wine. Lovely.