La Vieille Ferme Rouge 2024

La Vieille Ferme Rouge is a well-priced southern Rhône red from the Perrin family, the people behind Château de Beaucastel.

For decades La Vieille Ferme has been a go-to bottle for good-value French red. The Perrins source grapes from the slopes of Mont Ventoux, and the blend of Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Cinsault is classic for the south of France. The 2024 is an elegant purple, with morello cherry, spice, peppermint and a touch of violet. After a fresh start, black cherry flavours lead to soft tannins, a good balance of freshness and fullness, and a finish with a hint of dark chocolate.

Serve at around 15 to 17 degrees. It is an easy match for pizza, sausages and lentils, burgers or a cheese board.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.

Type: Red Wine
Style: Dry, Medium-bodied, Easy-drinking
Grape Varietal: Grenache, Syrah (Shiraz), Carignan and Cinsault
Tastes Like: Comparable to a young, fruit-led Côtes du Rhône red
Alcohol Percentage: 13%
Closure: Screwcap
Size: 750mL
Appellation: Ventoux AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée, France's protected designation of origin, which sets where and how the wine is made)
Region: Ventoux, Southern Rhône, France
Terroir: Vineyards on the slopes of Mont Ventoux, the tallest mountain in Provence
Aging: Grapes destemmed and each variety vinified separately in concrete vats with regular pump-overs; made to drink young
Serving Temperature: 15-17℃

La Vieille Ferme, which means the old farm, has been made by the Perrin family since 1970. The same family owns Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, bought in 1909 by Pierre Tramier and developed by his son-in-law Pierre Perrin and then by Pierre's son Jacques. The family began farming organically in 1950, and today the fifth generation runs its wines across the southern Rhône. La Vieille Ferme is their everyday range, made to be opened young and found on tables around the world.

The red is the wine that made the name. Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Cinsault, the classic varieties of the south of France, are picked from vineyards on the slopes of Mont Ventoux, where cooler nights than the Rhône valley floor help keep the wine fresh. Each variety is destemmed and vinified on its own in concrete vats before blending, with no oak, and the family recommends drinking it within the year while it is at its liveliest.

Pizza and pasta: Pizza with sausage, or penne with a tomato and olive sauce
Vegetables: Soupe au pistou, ratatouille or stuffed zucchini
Meat: Sausages with lentils, burgers or grilled lamb chops
Casual: A ham and cheese baguette or a charcuterie board

Tomme de Provence: A mild Provençal mountain cheese, the local choice
Picodon: A small, tangy goat's cheese from the Drôme and Ardèche, just north of Ventoux
Comté: Nutty and firm, easy with a fruity red
Cheddar: A mature cheddar stands up to the Grenache

Soupe au Pistou (Provençal Vegetable Soup with Basil)

Ingredients (Serves 6):

• For the Soup:
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 2 waxy potatoes, diced
• 1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained
• 1 x 400g tin borlotti beans, drained
• 200g green beans, cut into 3cm pieces
• 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 litres vegetable stock or water
• 100g small pasta, such as ditalini
• For the Pistou:
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 large bunch basil, leaves only
• 80g Parmigiano Reggiano or aged Gouda, finely grated
• 100mL extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Warm the oil in a large pot and soften the onion for 5 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes more.
2. Pour in the stock, season and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add the zucchini, green beans, both beans and the pasta and simmer for 10-12 minutes, until the pasta is tender.
4. For the pistou, pound the garlic with a pinch of salt, add the basil and pound to a paste, then work in the cheese and oil.
5. Take the soup off the heat and stir in half the pistou. Serve with the rest at the table for everyone to add their own.

Soupe au pistou is the summer soup of Provence, thick with vegetables and beans and finished with a raw basil and garlic paste. A young, unoaked southern Rhône red is the local match: fresh enough for the vegetables, with enough fruit and body to meet the garlic and cheese.