Hailing from the northern Rhône and a family of local farmers, Nicolas Badel is not one to rush anything; instead, he is a steadfast perfectionist who prefers to take his time and do things the right way. Nicolas’ wine-making is non-formulaic; he adapts it to the unique conditions of each vintage. The essence of his philosophy is to make terroir and finesse-driven wines that are pure, precise, clean, and transparent. The wines are well-structured yet also approachable and easy to drink. For this reason, he is now regarded in the same league with his friend Pierre Gonon. 

His small winery is located near Vernosc-lès-Annonay, on the wild, forested plateau above the Cance valley, a tributary of the Rhône. Nicolas Badel’s farming has been certified organic since the very beginning and he is now in the process of carefully working biodynamics into his vineyards, with the intent of making the finest wines possible from his terroir. His labels feature a reproduction of the Roman coins from 75 BC that were found in the Intuition vineyard (along with other artifacts) during planting, evidence of the historic precedence of his vineyards.

Badel’s cuvée Les Mourrays comes from a single-vineyard of 50-year-old syrah vines perched directly above the village of Limony, also on decomposed granitic soils. The old-vines have had time to break through the friable soil, digging deep. The site’s incline faces south, offering protection from the cold northerly winds and excellent sun exposure for most of the day. These attributes give a structured wine with fine tannins and good ageability. Les Mourrays always has wild, brooding aromatics with peppery, black fruit and a licorice note. The fruit on the palate is always cool, supple, and framed by great acidity. Les Mourrays is never heavy and can verge on the power of Cornas when tasted blind.

Vintage – The 2018 vintage was outstanding in the northern Rhône Valley, producing exciting wines of exceptional structure, perfume, and depth of flavor. A rainy winter in 2018 replenished water reserves after the dry 2017 vintage. Flowering was near perfect, followed by a warm and dry summer, lasting into September, allowing for an early harvest of perfectly ripe fruit, with a good balance of acidity and tannin. The vintage feels fresh, perfumed, substantial, and energetic. 2018 is a marriage of the richness of 2017 to the freshness of 2016.

Vinification – After a manual harvest, 75% of the grapes are destemmed and 25% are left whole-cluster. The wine then ferments spontaneously with indigenous yeasts for 21 days in concrete tanks, with a gentle maceration, followed by nine months aging in three to five-year-old Burgundy barrels. No sulfur is added during the vinification process, only a small amount at bottling. 

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