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Anders Frederik Steen

In the shadow of NV

Price: $37.95
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Tasting notes

This is Grenache Noir stripped of the confiture and weight it often carries in warmer southern French hands. The direct press component keeps the palate bright and transparent, with fresh red cherry, raspberry, and an earthy, garrigue edge that the blue marl soils of this specific parcel seem to contribute. It drinks with tension rather than heat.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
RaspberryCherryEarthGarrigue
  • Style: Dry, light-bodied red; 100% Grenache Noir; bright red fruit, earth, garrigue; no added sulfur
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Grenache Noir; Domaine Le Mazel, Valvignères, Ardèche; clay-limestone and blue marl soils; organically farmed for decades
  • Winemaking: 80% direct press, 20% hand-destemmed; 3-week maceration; spontaneous fermentation in open-air fiberglass tanks; unfined, unfiltered; no added sulfur; Vin de France
  • Serving: Serve at 55-60°F; no decant needed; slight chill welcome
  • Pairing: Roast chicken, grilled lamb, Comté, charcuterie, tomato-based dishes
  • Similar To: For fans of light, earthy Grenache or cool-climate reds with transparent fruit and no oak influence

In the Shadow of the Morning Sun is 100% Grenache Noir sourced from the organically farmed vineyards of Domaine Le Mazel in Valvignères, a village in the southern Ardèche whose Roman name, Vallis Vinaria, translates as "valley of the vine." The vineyard takes its name literally: the morning sun crests a mountain peak and leaves this particular parcel in shade during the early hours of the day, shaping how the grapes ripen on clay-limestone and blue marl soils that distinguish it from most of the surrounding valley floor.

Winemaking follows the same approach Anders Frederik Steen applies across all his red wines: 80% direct press and 20% hand-destemmed grapes, with three weeks of maceration and spontaneous fermentation in fiberglass tanks outside under open air. No sulfur is added at any stage. The wine is bottled unfiltered and unfined, classified as Vin de France.

Anders Frederik Steen and his partner Anne Bruun Blauert settled permanently in Valvignères in 2016, farming around four hectares. The vineyards at Le Mazel, tended organically for decades by Gérald and Jocelyne Oustric, are the source of fruit for this cuvée. No two vintages of this wine are produced the same way; maceration lengths, proportions of pressed versus destemmed fruit, and blending decisions are made at harvest based on what the grapes show that year.

Works well alongside roast chicken with herbs, grilled lamb chops, or a board of aged hard cheeses like Comté. The wine's acidity and light structure also make it a natural match for charcuterie and dishes built around fresh tomato.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Grenache Noir
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, NV
Alcohol:, 12%
Country:, France
Region:, Ardèche
Appellation:, Vin de France
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Anders Frederik Steen

Anders Frederik Steen is Danish and spent his early career in Copenhagen as a chef and then as a sommelier, working at Noma and later co-opening Relae and Manfreds, where he built one of the first entirely natural wine lists in Denmark. He also ran a natural wine import business during that period. His exposure to natural wine producers in France led him to begin making wine himself in 2013, initially buying grapes from Gérald and Jocelyne Oustric at Domaine Le Mazel in Valvignères and working alongside Jura winemaker Jean-Marc Brignot for the first three vintages. He and his partner Anne Bruun Blauert settled permanently in Valvignères in 2016.

Steen and Blauert farm around four hectares of vines in and around Valvignères. The vineyards at Domaine Le Mazel, their primary source of fruit, have been tended organically for decades by the Oustric family and sit on clay-limestone and blue marl soils in a valley the Romans knew as Vallis Vinaria. Farming follows organic principles and methods of permaculture. No synthetic inputs are used in the vineyard.

Each wine and vintage is treated as a separate decision made at harvest, based on how the grapes taste. For red wines, Steen and Blauert either press grapes directly or destem by hand, and always ferment different varieties together spontaneously in open-air fiberglass tanks. Blending happens during harvest, not afterward. Wines are bottled unfiltered with no added sulfur, no fining agents, and no other additions. The same cuvée name may see a different maceration length, a different ratio of pressed to destemmed fruit, or a different fermentation duration from one year to the next.

Wine region

Ardèche, France

Ardèche sits on the western bank of the Rhône, roughly 50 kilometers south of Lyon and 100 kilometers north of the Mediterranean. The southern half of the department, where Anders Frederik Steen farms, falls under the IGP Ardèche and Coteaux de l'Ardèche designations. The climate is Mediterranean: mild winters, hot and dry summers, and significant influence from the northerly Mistral wind that dries the canopy and cools summer nights. Around Valvignères specifically, the valley's topography creates distinct microclimates that separate it from the broader southern Ardèche plain.

Soils in the Ardèche vary widely across the department, ranging from limestone and sandstone to granite, gneiss, and sandy clay. In Valvignères the dominant profile is clay-limestone, locally called Gravette, though certain parcels sit on blue marls pushed to the surface by ancient volcanic activity. AOC appellations within the broader Ardèche department include Saint-Joseph, Cornas, Saint-Péray, and Côtes du Vivarais, but most independent natural wine producers in the southern zone, including Steen, work under the Vin de France or IGP Ardèche classification. Grenache Noir, Syrah, Carignan, and Grenache Blanc are the most commonly planted varieties among independent growers here.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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