Meet the winemaker: Le Raisin et l'Ange

Le Raisin et l’Ange is an organic winery founded by Gilles & Antonin Azzoni in the Rhône where they work with zero intervention and no additives, such as sulfur, yeast, filtration, etc. - "nothing but the grapes."  

We had the opportunity to speak with Antonin about his work. We hope you enjoy our conversation.

Can you tell me about your background - how you came to be a winemaker, and what influenced your style of farming and producing? 

My father started to work in wine about 45 years ago and he was from the south of Paris and wasn't enjoying his life at that time. So he went to Beaune to learn how to cultivate vineyards and make wine first for 2 years, from 1977-78. He learned there then came to Ardèche in 1983 to take on a small farm that he was renting and where the owner let him do what he wanted with it. It had mostly old, hybrid vines at the time then he planted Grenache, Syrah and Viognier and then started to farm them organically in 1997. In 2000, he had his first 100% certified organic vintage and started making natural wine around that time, removing sulfur and yeasts and filtration. A turning point for him was when he first tried wine by Domaine Marcel Lapierre - he tasted it and thought ,"Wow, I have to do the same." The Cuvée Robert was the first wine, named after the owner of the farm. In 2014, I then took on half of the farm where I had grown up, and also started buying grapes. In this region, many people who grow grapes want to sell to the cooperatives, but the coops don't care about organic grapes. So I decided to buy the grapes and make wine naturally, just like my father. The growers are happy because they get paid more and I'm happy because I get to do it how I want.

Can you describe the vineyard and its surroundings? 

Around the farm, it's limestone soil - as is around 80% of south Ardeche. But for the Merlot and the Gamay, which I buy, they're grown next to the Auvergne mountain which is still in Ardeche but has a clay soil. Around 50km north of us you start to have a continental climate, but in France it's sunny and hot around the Mediterranean sea. It's the same for us - we don't get a lot of water and it's around 40 degrees every day in the summer, and stays quite warm in the winter. It can get a bit too hot for me sometimes!

Do you use any sulfites?

Whenever you see Le Raisin et l'Ange, you will know that it means no sulfites, no additives, no nothing. We have a logo on all our bottles that shows that we are 100% organic, hand picked, no sulfites at all, filtration or yeasts as approved by the French administration.

What’s the story behind the name of the winery?

The translation of Le Raisin et l'Ange is The Grape and the Angel - we chose this name because, in the 1990s before my father started making natural wine, the domaine was called Mas de la Bigude. In France, if you want mas, domaine or château in your name, you need to be labelled, but when my father started, he lost the appellation and was really angry because people didn't really know what he was doing. So he created the brand and decided that, even if we got the appellation, we would keep the name.

Visit Le Raisin et l'Ange's RAW WINE profile to learn more about the winery.