Domaine de l'Accent Rouge Una Notte France 2023

Smooth and gentle texture… lip-smackingly juicy… goes down easy… lighter in alcohol… this is a whenever/always sipper! An ultra charming Grenache from an idealistic one-man-show winery in southern France that’s become quite the favorite of American natural wine shops. 

This is the bottle you try when you’re visiting your daughter in Brooklyn, and you start thinking these kids are onto something. It’s such a joy. Cheery red cherries splash across the palate, unchained by tannins. The 12% alcohol is nearly imperceptible on the tongue. We have raspberry and dripping-fresh cantaloupe vibing with lilies and something faintly nutty like peanut brittle. If you take your time, sun-warmed herbs emerge. Light red in color, light on its feet, your all-year, crushable, affordable treat!

The winemaker is Italian-born Konrad Pixner, who founded Domaine de l'Accent in 2018 in France's Terrasses du Larzac appellation – which falls within Languedoc-Roussillon. The name "Una Notte” – "one night" in Italian – is a nod to the Grenache undergoing just 24 hours of maceration before being pressed. It was aged for five months on lees in stainless steel tanks – so this is fresh, fresh, fresh. And we’ll say it again, incredibly smooth. How much care and soul went into this? So much!

This 2023 comes from 40-year-old vines growing on a limestone plateau. Konrad hustles around his terraced mosaic of vineyards full of enthusiasm for the vines and the forests surrounding them. He says he works “in compliance with the rules of organic farming but above all, with common sense.” It almost goes without saying that he relies on native yeast fermentation and avoids any synthetic interventions in the cellar.

Who wouldn’t love this? No one we can think of.