In their vineyard in the Collines Rhodaniennes, Pascal and Catherine Jamet’s labour of love is not lost.
Almost ten years ago the Jamets (pictured, no relation of the Côte Rôtie Jamets), both viticulturists by training and owners of a small domaine of 3 ha in St-Joseph and 3 ha in Portes-lès-Valence in the Collines Rhodaniennes, embarked on the long road of rescuing the almost extinct Ardèche variety Dureza. The status of this dark-skinned variety sky-rocketed after 1998 when it was discovered by DNA analysis that Dureza was the previously unknown parent, along with Mondeuse Blanche, of Syrah – the world’s...