Appellation: Vin de France
Cuvée: La Foulée des Zinzins
Colour: Red
Grapes: Grenache Noir 100%
About: The Badea’s sweetly priced entry level wine. The name means a bunch of “loonies” in a nice way, with a nod to the crushing of grapes. It’s what their friends called them when they announced their intention to start their own Domaine. Both Agnes and Philippe had good jobs… The fruit is selected from the more vigorous vines, producing the most juicy grapes.

Vines

Location: just west of Tulette.
Size: from 3 parcels within the 4 hectare holding.
Age: vines planted in 1945.
Soils: clay-limestone with silt and sand and silex.
Exposition: basically flat.
Altitude: 100 to 150m.
Training: although everything was planted in gobelet, much was re-trained to cordon de royat on wire in the 1980’s for the “convenience” of the worker, rather than the health of vine and fruit.
Farming: organic, as above.
Average yield hl/ha: 30.

Winemaking

The fruit, whole bunches, was foot-trodden in the cases into which they were picked, and manually put into fibreglass tank to ferment, using natural yeasts and no other entrants except a tiny dose of sulfur after malo. No temperature, but ambient 31 to 32ºC. Two delestages (rack and return, all the wine is drained off the marc, the skins, then put back in, thus thoroughly aerating the wine and soaking the skins) were carried out during a total cuvaison or time on skins of 8 days.
After pressing the wine was put back in tank to age for six months. It was bottled under cork without fining or filtration.

Vintage notes 2017

Yield hl/ha: 17 hl/ha
Harvested: September 3 to 10.
Bottles produced: 3,000.
Date bottled: 2018-07.
Alcohol: 13.5 %
SO2 Total: 25
Tasting: a bone dry, medium-full bodied wine with tons of energy and freshness, clean, spicy, blackberry fruit, and firm, astringent tannins, a touch rustic but gentle.

Vintage notes 2018
Much of the Southern Rhône was hit by mildew as a result of a wet spring, yet many producers managed it and even benefited from the water. All the Badea 2018s show concentration as well as juicy, attractively vegetal fruit.
Yield hl/ha: 33 hl/ha (compared with under 20 in 2017).
Harvested: September 5 to 15
Bottles produced: 4,000
Date bottled: 2019-06
Alcohol: 13.76 %
SO2 Total: 20
Tasting: strong aromas of raspberry and black cherry fruit, iron and garrigue make for a traditional, old fashioned Côtes du Rhône style (the wine is only Vin de France because it’s 100% Grenache Noir, Côtes du Rhône requiring that AOP be a blend). The palate is gloriously stony, with low acidity, broad, firm tannins, powerful but cool and satisfying, with a long finish.

Vintage Notes 2019
Philippe didn’t plough at all, let grasses grow wild in the vineyard – and counted 60 different varieties. The weather was a rollercoaster with a warm January followed by a long, cool, but dry Spring. Flowering was even. Then two mini heatwaves, end of June and mid July, created tension, stopped some growth of vegetation, and stressed the vine. There was some minor burning of leaves and grapes. Deep roots enabled the vines to withstand the challenge. Big, sturdy wines. Zinzin has some Fleur de Carotte and Chibanette in it this year, since these Cuvées weren’t made.
Yield hl/ha: 25 hl/ha
Harvested: September 8 to 15
Bottles produced: 4,800
Date bottled: 2020-06
Alcohol: 13.79 %
SO2 Total: 15
Tasting: lovely aromas spicy, savour, sweet black cherry, cassis, dusty white pepper, roast meat, soil. Well balanced, energetic, good fun, robust, traditional, solid.