Marjorie Gallet is an inspirational winemaker and a real ‘woman of the soil’. If this conjures up images of rather hefty peasant lady, then sweep them from your mind forthwith, for Madame Gallet is a fine, delicate slip of person. In among her vines though, she is almost a human extension of them, threading fronds through her fingers, stroking leaves and putting trunks as she speaks. I have truly never seen anyone who seemed quite so at home in a vineyard. After studying winemaking, she persuaded friends of her parents invest in vineyards which she had found and fallen in love with in this amazingly dynamic part of France – as far as wines go – on the border with Spain. Loans from banks followed and she now has 25 hectares, many of which are home to ancient vines. Her vineyards are farmed organically and she just got the certificate as a "Certified Biodynamic Estate". The Carignan vineyard for her wines – which means ‘hearts blood’ in the local dialect – is an average age of 65 years and is planted on very rocky soils. Marjorie believes that this terroir is exactly right for Carignan and based on the incredible red wine she produces from it, we wholeheartedly concur. This shows the velvet black cherry and rustic edge typical of this variety, but there are also hints of sweet red fruit and cinnamon as well as black pepper from the Grenache and Syrah. We love this wine passionately - because of the magical place it hails from, the very lovely lady who makes it and the fact that it tastes utterly delicious.