I hope you're all staying warm, either cozy at home, or with snow shoveling hyperventilation.

What I like to do on snow days is drink a whole 5 liter box of Merlot, so my friends Audrey and Anthony Vidal of Domaine du Bartassou came to mind (they make those).

Anthony comes from a long line of farmers, and much to his parents' chagrin, he's stuck with it, falling in love with vinifera as a young boy (as young boys do!). Audrey was a city girl in Marseille who came to Anthony's vineyard in 2014. She uprooted her life to follow her heart. Yay!

They dreamed about making their own wine for many years, and thanks to a little help from our good friend, Theirry Forestier, they got their chance last year. Theirry helped out with his facility and guidance, and the result has been fabulous. Two young lovers. Just starting out. What's not to like?

All the work on their 13ha vineyard is done by hand, without any chemical intervention. No intervention in the cellar, either. This is in the Gard, naturally, in the village of Combas. Today we've got a couple wines to showcase that are priced for quarantine Valentine's binge:

Merlot BiB 5 Liters

- As promised, 5 liters of Biodynamic, natural, juicy and delicious Merlot. Feeling warm? Whole bunches are fermented in tank and then right into the bag, then the box. No fining, no filtering, no nothing. Clean as a whistle. Good till it's gone.

Vdf “Un Petit Grain de Mamour” 2019 (Grenache Noir) 

- For whom amongst us doesn't love a little grain of love. This is carbonic Grenache with a much fuller profile than all our other carbonic Grenaches. It tastes like a hug. Isn't that nice? IT'S GOT A HEART ON IT!