After working at Chateau Beaucastel and Domaine de la Janasse Philippe Gimel purchased 12.5 hectares of vines in the unheralded Ventoux. After years of working in abject penury devoting his energies into organic farming, tending his vines by hand and working (and living!) out of a makeshift cellar Philippe is beginning to get the attention that his talent and hard work deserves. The rocky clay soils of his vineyards are devoted to producing a wine he calls l’Argile which is a blend of Grenache and Syrah with small proportions of Carignan and Cinsault. Thoroughly old school, he ferments and ages his wine in concrete tanks for a very long time before bottling – in the cases of L’Argile, at least two years. Naturally he also waits to release the wines after an additional time in bottle; when he feels they are drinking well.
