When René Devine started selling barrels of wine to passing merchants in 1936, he was selling the sort of rich, full bodied and sun soaked wines that caused a sensation in Paris when railroads first connected the city to the vineyards of southern France. René’s granddaughter Agnes runs the domaine today with her husband Bertrand Burle, and they look for balance in the wines. Balance between intensity and finesse, between fruit and savory earth, between the present and the future. They have the highest organic certification available and work as sustainably as possible. Font Sarade means ‘dry land’ in the Provençal dialect, and the grapes struggle even in normal years, so sustainable practices are always part of the conversation. This Vacqueyras is among their most cherished wines, half Grenache, one quarter each Mourvedre and Syrah. Like the very best wines from the southern Rhone, this one offers layers of ripe, leathery fruits from dried strawberries and currants to deep black cherries and plums, with a scoop of organic earth and the classic garrigue scrubland herbs like lavender, rosemary, sage and thyme. The palate is rich and weighty, with just enough acidity to keep the orchestra playing on time and a distinct tannic backbone thanks to a long and vigorous maceration on the skins before fermentation began. This is wine for large hunks of meat, king mushrooms, eggplant, so long as they have grill marks on them.