Domaine de l'Ameillaud

Sabine and Nick Thompson
Route de Rasteau 84290 Cairanne
Tel. 490 30 82 02 - Fax. 4 90 30 74 66
Direct sale: Monday - Friday 8.00-12.00 and 14.00-18.00
Mail: domaine.ameillaud@free.fr
Web: http://www.ameillaud.com

   

Domaine de l`Ameillaud has a long history dating back some 200 years. The first bottling at the place was done in the 1980ties. The owners today are Sabine and Nick Thompson. Nick, an Englishman, had an uncle who was Master of Wine and who gave him some inspiration and interest in wine. In London, he as a young man met a French girl, Sabine, grand-daughter of a wine grower in Cairanne. Not surprisingly the young couple moved to France. They both followed courses at the wine school in Beaune and when Sabine's grandfather offered them the job as managers of his domain 1983 their destiny was decided . After the grandfather's death, in 1991, they bought part of the domain from the heirs.

The creation of the new appellation "Cairanne" (in stead of Cotes du Rhone Village Cairanne") had great impact for Domaine de l'Ameillaud.
The amount og hectares i the new appellation decreased from 1350 ha to potential 1088 hectares. INAO's soil analyses did that l'Ameillaud's area inside the new appellation became 8 hectares AOC Cairanne when it before inside the former village appellation was 24 hectares.
The rules for the new appellation about grape varities became also a problem for Nick Thompson as he has a relatively high percentage of Carignan in the vineyards. I fact the domain's possibility for making Cairanne is reduced to three heactares just now.
Nickt Thompson therefore need to reconstruct the vineyards by replantings to be able to make Cairanne from 8 hectares.
To finance all these changes Nick Thompson has sold a relatively large proportion of his vineyards,

For 2017 there might some changes in the range of wines, but here is listed the wines for sale according to the domain's website May 2018

Cairanne
2016: 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 18% Carignan, 2% Mourvedre.

Cairanne Harmas
2015: 60% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 10% Carignan. 
25% aged in i barriques for 12 months.

Cotes du Rhone
2016: 55% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 30% Carignan

IGP Orange
2016: 55% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 20% Carignan

IGP Vaucluse
2016: 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 20% Carignan.

VDF Rosé
2016: 40% Syrah, 60% Carignan.