Domaine des Anges, Côtes du Ventoux
'The best wines being made in the region' (Robert M. Parker, Wines of the
Rhône Valley, Dorling Kindersley)
'All these wines are wrongly priced - but in the consumer's favour'
(Matthew Nugent, Evening Herald)
Since Parker made the above comment in The Wine Advocate, Domaine des
Anges has been regarded as an estate to watch and take seriously.
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Domaine des Anges' former winemaker Ciaràn
Rooney
was one of the first people we met professionally when we started BRW. He struck us as quiet and intensely serious man (he still is where
wine is concerned) but he was new to the job and with both Malcolm
Swan and Gay McGuinness (neither of whom could be said to be introverts)
present it was difficult
for him to do much more than tell us about the wines. Over the years,
however, he seems to have warmed to us (despite our being English) and we
regularly get together to outdo each other in both wine and cuisine. Ciaràn has a finely-tuned palate which is evident in his wines and he is
reassuringly unafraid to embrace modern ideas. The result: some
wonderful sun-kissed wines.
Englishman
Malcolm Swan purchased the Domaine de Notre Dame des Anges in Mormoiron,
Vaucluse in 1973. He took the estate to the top of the appellation, retiring
in 1998 when the estate's current owner, Kilkenny man Gay McGuinness,
appointed Dubliner Ciaràn Rooney as the estate manager and winemaker.
Originally from Dublin, Ciaràn's family moved to
South Africa
whilst he was still at school. Almost by accident he studied Oenology and Viticulture at
Stellenbosch
University and gained experience all over the world prior to his arrival in
Mormoiron just in time for the 1998 harvest.
Ciaràn's CV includes stints at top
Bordeaux
châteaux such as Lafite Rothschild, the Pauillac premier cru
classé,
Rieussec (Sauternes) and Château du
Seuil (Graves) as well as leading New World
estates
such as
Tim
Knappstein Wines and Tyrells in
Australia,
Kumeu
River
(New Zealand), Argyle Wines and Cakebread Cellars (USA) and Thelema and Neil Ellis
Wines in South Africa. This international background is very much evident in Ciaràn's wines,
particularly his top red, Clos de l'Archange, renamed L'Archange
from 2000. Recent vintages have been very much in the style of
the new oak Gigondas wines that cost upwards of £20 although L'Archange
is more
Syrah-rich than most of these.
Ciaràn left Domaine des Anges in 2011, having devoted over 12 years to
building up the quality and reputation of the estate's wines. He is now
working in Châteauneuf-du-Pape
and has been replaced in Mormoiron by his former assistant, Florent Chave
who is continuing in the same vein and who came to the estate by way of Domaine Brusset.
It's a small world!
