A friend of mine poured me a taste of this delicious wine and the first thing it reminded me of was that it might be a relative of Château Rayas—one of the best Grenache producers on the planet whose vineyards are planted in sandy soils in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I learned that although it’s not a relative, it just so happens that the village of Sablet—the appellation where this Grenache based red comes from—means sand in French, and the the soils in Sablet are dominated by it. The estate is run by Eric Ughetto and his wife Sophie who work the small vineyards themselves without the use of herbicides or pesticides; they are currently in their second year working towards organic certification. The vineyards are planted to Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, and are the grapes used to produce this impressive blend. The grapes are picked by hand and put  into a cement fermentation tank in whole clusters (without de-stemming), and then the wines are fermented entirely with native yeasts. They spend eight months in large neutral barrels and are bottled without fining or filtration, to not strip the wine of its natural character. The winemaking is simple, resulting in pure and delicious wine which drinks way beyond its price point.