Domaine La Lôyane L’Eclipse

Dec 18, 2025
2 min read

Domaine La Lôyane L'Eclipse Rouge ORG (no added sulpher) 2023 13.5%

Grenache

Grenache is thin skinned variety which gives light-coloured wines unless given extended maceration time. It’s most prominent feature however is probably it’s propensity for giving high alcohol wines. It is often blended with darker skinned varieties and those which produce less sugar. I tasted Grenache in Châteauneuf this year which had reached 18% alcohol! It is grown as a bush vine and is well suited to hot, windy climates like the Rhône. Grenache is one of the world’s most planted varieties and is especially popular in Spain where it is called Garnacha and in Sardinia where it is called Canonau.

Southern Rhône Valley

The Southern Rhône is Grenache country, a grape which is most often blended with any number of other grapes grown in the region. As opposed to the Northern Rhône Valley which is know for it’s single varietal Syrah and Viognier. It’s hot in the Rhône and the grapes tend to have thick skins and give tannic, highly coloured wines. The whites tend towards the full bodied and aromatic wines and the best can be very long lived. The most widely available wines from the region are Côtes du Rhône. Next up the chain of quality is the Côtes du Rhône Villages where the fruit has to come from a mix of any of the named, high quality villages and next are the single village wines like Lirac, Vaqueyras, Gigondas. The highest quality level is usually Châteauneuf du Pape.

A Husband & Wife

Domaine de la Lôyane is a husband and wife team based in Lirac and they make a large range of very good wines. This wine is made from young vines which give less concentrated flavours than old vines. The wine is meant to be light and easy to drink and has no oak influence at all as it is vinified and aged in stainless steel. The couple, Romain and Laure, don’t add any sulphur during the making of this wine which is still quite unusual and risky if you get it wrong. Often when you first smell a wine with no added sulphur it can smell a bit farm-yardy but all you get on the nose from this wine is pure fruit, strawberries and raspberries and soft, silky tannins on the palate. The lack of added sulphur contributes to the lightness and purity of the fruit.

Sausage & roasted pepper tomato pasta

Tomato-based dishes suit young-vine Grenache perfectly. It's a low to moderate acid wine, which won't fight the high acid tomato. Tomatoes sweeten when roasted, perfect to match this fruit driven wine and grenache is low tanin. High tanins and tomatoes are a bit of a no no (it can give a bitter taste as a pairing). Bonus points for a Toulouse sausage to give a bit of fatty contrast, pepper notes and a more delicate meat to match this light unoaked number.