Le Raisin et l’Ange (Gilles & Antonin Azzoni)
Ardèche, France
Imported by Camille Rivière
Image courtesy of Le Raisin et l’Ange
Gilles Azzoni has been a leader of the natural wine community in Ardèche, a humble, often forgotten-about region next to the Rhône, since 2000. He took over the farm, which is now helmed by his son Antonin, in 1983, but took a while to come around to the natural way of doing things after taking over and using the same industrialized techniques the previous owner used. The family has not used sulfur in their wines or filtered for almost 20 years.
2022 was characterized by a heat wave and drought, so alcohol levels were higher across the region; the Azzonis still wanted complete ripeness in the fruit, and that is reflected in their wines even though they are quite fresh!
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Antonin Azzoni farms a small family plot and makes wine from purchased fruit from neighbors in the southern part of the Ardèche, close to Vallon-Pont-d’Arc and very close to Domaine Ozil (one of their primary grower friends). Antonin’s father Gilles continues to farm one hectare of vines in his retirement.