Natural Northern Rhones from Dard & Ribo!
8/4/25 -
The wines of Dard & Ribo have evolved to become some of the most pure and delicious wines of the Northern Rhone, much sought after by lovers of natural wines. Quantities are tiny, of course - we are glad to offer a few bottles of the 2024 "C'est le Printemps" as well as many of the 2023s, including a few of the rare special cuvées.
René-Jean Dard, of Dard & Ribo, on "natural" wine: "I’ve been making sulfur-free wines since I was 15. I didn’t even know you could add sulfur to wine until going to oenology school! "You have to", they said! My dad never sulfured the wines and I basically just followed in his footsteps. ..A lot of people are hiding behind the word "natural" to escape criticism from their lack of serious work in the cellar. The wines are jam packed with volatility, they are muddled and murky; that's not wine. Just because you didn’t do anything to the wine doesn’t mean it's good. Making "natural" wine should not be a goal unto itself. It should be a tool to make qualitatively superior wine." (Interview with René-Jean Dard courtesy of Louis/Dressner Selections)
Conditions in the Northern Rhone were less than ideal in 2023 with periods of heat and rain, but the Dard & Ribo wines are uniformly lovely and fresh, as usual! (René-Jean Dard photo (?) courtesy of Louis/Dressner Selections)
(Thanks to drinkrhone for notes)
