Cotes du Rhone ‘Terra Firma’ Domaine l’Ancienne Ecole is a full bodied, brooding wine with a dense structure and ample dark fruit flavours. It is a blend of 75% Grenache Noir and 25% Syrah which results in a soft yet complex wine with bramble fruit, herb notes and pepper spice.

We spent a great deal of time searching for a Cotes du Rhone we liked and had almost given up when out of the blue Tarquin met a chap called Bill Thorburn in Edinburgh. It turns out Bill’s son, Wilson, and his wife, Anna, own a little estate called Domaine l’Ancienne Ecole just outside Vinsobres. “I’ll get you samples”, insists Bill. Now caution must be taken here as it’s not uncommon for one of us to meet someone who knows someone who makes wine. It normally ends with a polite email including the words, “they were not right for us” (i.e., they were substandard). Thankfully Wilson and Anna’s wines were tremendous, and they are now firm favourites with our customers. The wines are now certified organic, unfiltered and use very low levels of added sulphur. Their vineyards are in prime sites on the plateau above Vinsobres. Grenache dominated, the wines have excellent structure and above all are a pleasure to drink.