A glass of La Rue de Zig Zag anybody?

You may have heard on the grapevine, after much deliberation, we’re moving … to France.

BUT – before you throw your hands in the air and spit out our wine, muttering GAH! We implore you, please read on.

We’re not really leaving per se. While we take on a French project, a sister vineyard, if you will; an established, organic, old vine, high altitude, dry-grown vineyard in the Languedoc region of France, we’re holding on to our beloved Zig Zag Rd., who will continue to produce exciting wines (more on new releases later!).

We’ll only be gone for a few years … as if we could leave for good! We adore these lively wines and it’s not only the 50 year old vines who have roots in this community.

So WHY on earth are we doing this seemingly crackerjack move?

The seed of the decision was planted two years ago, when Henry’s Mum, who lives in France, suffered a severe stroke. Wilbur had just arrived into the world and we were mid-pandemic. The realisation: you can’t cheat distance!

We miss our families, our siblings and their kids, and suddenly parents aren’t as young as they were when you left them a year or two ago. Such is life and ageing.

We looked at this as our opportunity to spend a few valuable years close to loved ones AND learn a thing or do about producing wine in France along the way because … pourquoi pas!

Languedoc it is!

We’re so excited about this sister vineyard. It’s similar in many ways to Zig Zag Rd., and we’re buzzing with (too many) ideas on how they can collaborate.

The aim will be to send some of our French wine (varietals include grenache, syrah and marsanne) back to our wine club members, cellar door guests, and trade partners.

The Languedoc-Roussillon region specifically, is undergoing an exciting renaissance, producing wines of exceptional quality and we expect to be returning with more than a few vintages under our belts!

Click here to read a bit more on the region and it’s wines.

Working a vineyard in the south of France might sound glamorous but after nearly six years of winemaking being our pillow talk, we know the reality isn’t so glam. The thought of two harvests a year generates in us nervous energy and exhaustion in equal measure.

So, what will change?

Thankfully, Zig Zag Rd. will continue to hum along doing what it does best, making delicious wine and welcoming good folk to our cellar door.

We leave in December and we are in the ‘courage’ phase of this journey, before perhaps the ‘hard reality, oh crumbs’ phase hits.

We’re lucky to have a brilliant team of like-hearted people taking care of the day-to-day operations, dedicated to the mission of Zig Zag Rd. And we’ll introduce you to them and their stories shortly … but we’re keen to share our exciting news and we hope that we get the opportunity over the next busy few months to say À bientôt.