If you’re like me, the right patch of light or sliver of sound can transport you to another time. Opening this classic, ready-to-drink bottling from the Brunier family takes me straight to the holidays. Not just because it’s a wine that feels like the marker of a special season, but because it smells like fir and pine sap, the perfect counterbalance to its aromatic red fruit. Made mostly from the La Crau vineyard’s younger vines, it offers up a juicy drinkability that’s both cozy and craveable, all year round.

If there were a Hall of Fame for for French bistro reds, Domaine Gramenon’s Poignée de Raisins would be a no-brainer first-ballot inductee. The southern France counterpart to our favorite Morgons, this vibrant and classy cuvée exemplifies that ideal intersection between progressive farming, meticulous “natural” winemaking, and honest expression of its unique Rhône terroirs.
     Michèle Aubéry and her son Maxime François Laurent dedicate the “Fistful of Grapes” to younger-vine Grenache and age it in concrete in order to retain as much of the grape’s fresh fruit character as possible. Of course, it’s Grenache grown in galets roulés under the southern sun, so there’s plenty of earth, garrigue, and grip, too, but this is no doubt Gramenon’s most “bistro red” bottling.
      If you enjoy the Poignée de Raisins, do yourself a favor and delve into Maxime and Michèle’s other Côtes-du-Rhônes, all of which blend exuberance and complexity and stand out as some of southern France’s freshest and most soulful reds.

A wine with the energy of the great outdoors! Or, as my partner said, “It has a ‘just shot a boar’ kind of vibe.” Flint, bramble, and fruit: the nose is full of supple black cherry and cured olives, with hints of smoked-meat gaminess around the edges. The palate has grip and a pleasantly surprising lick of brightness.