2013 Domaine Aubai Mema Grenache Vieilles Vignes "Lunatico" Gard Rouge

Notes

Winemaker Mark Haynes may be many things: entrepreneur, winemaker, tango dancer; but there is one thing that he is not—conventional. I first met Mark in New York at a trade fair and we immediately hit it off. I loved his wines, so this meeting led to a visit to his winery on my April buying trip. Mark is a spirited man who came to winemaking late in life when he realized that so many producers in the Gard region were turning their backs on winemaking and farming. The region is in the south of France about 30 minutes from Nimes. It was his summer home in his childhood and he always had a fondness for it. Looking for a new challenge in his life, he fled to the village of Aubais and began investigating. Mark began organic farming when he purchased his first vineyards in 2002. The winery is housed in the defunct cooperative facility that he purchased in 2006 and began renovating. Aubai Mema has 10 hectares of vineyards and produces about 4,000-plus cases of wine annually, but the cooperative actually had the capacity to make upwards of 5,000,000 bottles annually before it closed. A large chunk of the building was turned into a dance studio where Mark hosts his weekly milongas or “Argentine tango dances.” It turns out that Mark is as equally obsessed with tango as he is with winemaking. (Keith Mabry, K&L Rhone and French Regional wine buyer)