BigHammerWines.com

Domaine Fond Croze is a fourth-generation family estate in Saint-Roman-de-Malegarde, a hilltop village just north of Cairanne in the Southern Rhône.

What Charles Long began after returning from World War I — a patch of land, a handful of vines — his grandson Bruno (winemaker) and Daniel (vineyard manager) transformed into one of the region's most respected organic producers. Since 2009, every vine on the estate's 80 hectares has been farmed without synthetic inputs.

"Vieux Ceps de Raymond" is named for Raymond Long, who expanded the domaine across a lifetime and served as village mayor for 28 years. The wine is a tribute to his legacy — and to one of the most intriguing plots on the estate: a north-facing hillside of old Carignan vines in Saint-Roman-de-Malegarde, planted on stony clay-limestone soils that deliver structure, freshness, and a sense of place you simply don't find in most Côtes du Rhône Villages wines at this price.

Carignan was once dismissed as a workhorse grape in the southern Rhône, but old-vine Carignan — grown on the right terroir, in the hands of a family that has tended these same blocks for generations — tells a completely different story.

Think of it as the Southern Rhône's answer to a great Beaujolais cru: lighter on its feet than Grenache, with more structure than you'd expect, and a distinctive savory, floral edge that makes it endlessly versatile at the table.