Preparation for La Tablée 2022 - Visiting Winemakers in the Southern Rhone

by Jaime Dutton

May 31, 2022

After a few days in Burgundy biking with Daniel and Edouard for Bike to Care Bourgogne, Daniel and I headed down south past Lyon, following the Rhone River, and made our way to Orange. In preparation for La Tablée this November we went to go see many of our friends in the Southern Rhone and also connect with some exciting new names and producers that have not attended our event yet. As with all of our festivals, we want to showcase all the different faces of the region - not just the names we all know and love. We hope to give the opportunity to our attendees to make discoveries, taste the lesser known appellations or meet new faces that are emerging as great new producers in their region. The way to do this is to spend time with the winemakers and go and taste their wines.

The Southern Rhone is a huge area filled with so many wine producing regions and villages; on our next trip we will dedicate more time to tour around. But this visit was short, so we chose Orange and asked a number of producers to meet us for a poolside aperitif. Orange is a central location for the winemakers - just 15 minutes north of Chateauneuf de Pape, 20 mins west of Gigondas and Vacqueyras and a little further from places in Ardeche and Vinsobres, but we were fortunate that our winemaker friends were able to join us to say hello and share a glass together.

We were able to introduce La Tablée to many fantastic wine producers and meet new faces like Thibaud Chaume of Domaine Chaume-Arnaud in Vinsobres, Damien Vache of Domaine La Monardière in Vacqueyras, Marie Giraud of Domaine Giraud, Nicolas Boiron of Domaine Bousquet des Papes, Paul Paumel of Mourre de Tendre, Florence and Thomas of La Durbane, and Didier Negron of Roger Sabon in Chateauneuf de Pape.

Also to reconnect with old friends like Olivier Leriche at Domaine des Accoles and Helene Thibon , with her son Aurelien, of Mas de Libian, both from the Ardeche region. Other great supporters of La Tablée from Chateauneuf and many who we had not seen since La Tablée 2019 joined us, and it was a pleasure to reconnect and taste the wines of Victor Coulon from Domaine Beaurenard, Isabelle Sabon and her father Aimé from Domaine de la Janasse, Isabel Fernando from Domaine Saint Préfert, Baptiste Grangeon from Domaine Cristia, Emmanuel Lemoine from Chateau Beaucastel, and Sandrine and Thierry from Domaine Pierre Usséglio.

We look forward to welcoming many of these producers to New York in November to celebrate La Tablée, and introducing you to them and their wines .

The wonderful winemakers who joined us in Orange chez Chef Pierre and Annie Paumel.

Daniel opening all the great wines that were brought to taste.