It’s one of those warm and fuzzy romantic tales with a happily ever after tag line.

The principals are Napa Valley’s Jon Larum and the Rhone Valley’s Francoise Joyet. And, of course, it involves wine.

It begins in 1990 when young Francoise came to the Napa Valley to work as an intern in the cellars of Joseph Phelps Vineyards. Toward the end of her stay, Jon decided the time was right for him, as a fellow Phelps employee, to offer a little more than casual greetings to a fellow cellar rat. He wound up hosting a farewell party for Francoise before she returned to her family’s wine business in Rasteau, a town of 600 residents northeast of Avignon.

Let’s back up for a moment to explain the young French woman’s work experience in the New World.

Francoise grew up in the green belt around the city of Lyon. But when she was a young teen, she and her family had to give up the vegetable farm that had been in the family for five generations. Urban sprawl forced the Joyets to relocate 200 kilometers to the south. Her family opted for a warmer, sunnier clime to accommodate the health issues of another daughter.

They settled in Rasteau, a village where grapegrowing is a major occupation. While the senior Joyet was a farmer, he had no experience with wine grapes. So he persuaded one of the former owner’s employees to remain on the payroll, to help the Joyet family in its new endeavor, to help cultivate and make wine from 14 hectares of winegrapes.

Francoise decided to team up with her father in the wine business once her siblings made it clear that they didn’t intend to do so.

“I liked the wine business and working in the vineyards,” Francoise said during a recent visit here. “I guess one of the most important things was that I didn’t want to see my family have to relocate yet again because no one wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps.”

Francoise first trained as a sommelier, then worked in wine shops — to absorb as much knowledge as she could about the wines of her country. Then, feeling she could learn a great deal by working in a New World wine cellar, she applied to Phelps for a cellar position. “I also wanted to become fluent in English,” she added. “(Phelps winemaker) Craig Williams agreed for me to work in the cellar here.”

Now, we’re back to where she was feted by Jon Larum, a relatively new Phelps employee himself (after spending about three years in the employ of the Robert Mondavi family).

With romance in the air, Francoise and Jon kept in touch, even though they were half a world apart. In 1992, Larum headed to France to visit Francoise and meet her family. Although he came back to Napa Valley in time for the harvest, he’d made his mind up to ask Francoise to marry him. He spent most of 1993 in Rasteau and on July 30, 1994, Jon and Francoise were married as friends from Napa Valley and France cheered them on.

“I was the first American to marry in Rasteau,” Larum said during his recent visit to family. “The only other Americans to spend any time there were two World War II pilots shot down and buried there for a year until their families claimed their remains.”

Jon and Francoise brought their two young children with them on this recent visit — 11-year-old Julien (a student at St. Cecile Junior High School, mountain biker and soccer player) and 9-year-old Pauline (third-grader, equestrienne and Star Wars fan).

Since her father retired in 1996, Francoise has been in charge of winemaking at Domaine des Girasols, named for the sunflowers that are a prominent part of the landscape. Jon oversees vineyard operations, vineyards that are planted to grenache (about 60 percent of vine total), cinsault, syrah, mourvedre and carignane.

Jon’s brother, Gordon, is now importing the wines of Domaine des Girasols, so the handiwork of this eager young couple can be enjoyed in the Napa Valley. Gordon runs the hospitality center at Kuleto Estate Wines.

At a recent game dinner hosted by vintner Kuleto and Gordy Larum, we got to taste Domaine des Girasols wines.

Domaine des Girasols 2005 Rosé ($15): A blend of grenache, cinsault and mourvedre, this is a delightful Rhone rosé consisting of free run juice (macerated for approximately 24 hours — “when we like the color it’s drained by gravity flow,” said Francoise), and then fermented in the traditional French style in concrete tanks. This wine doesn’t get near wood. It’s a refreshing mouthful of strawberries, with a light bracing finish of rhubarb. It’s rosé at its best.

Domaine des Girasols 2001 Cotes du Rhones Villages Rasteau ($20): Whole cluster fermentation of grenache (the largest percentage of the blend at 52 percent), cinsault (20 percent), syrah (17 percent), carignane (6 percent) and mourvedre (5 percent) has produced a marvelous Rhone blend with aromas of olives and figs, and the flavor of ripe red plums and raspberries with a bit of spice, undoubtedly from the syrah. A true vineyard blend, it’s a wine that drinks well with or without food.

Domaine des Girasols 2003 Cotes du Rhones Villages Rasteau ($20): Obviously, a bit younger, even a bit riper than its counterpart, this Rhone blend from the Joyet family offers a bit more plums in the mouth and an even spicier nose. Figs are present in both nose and palate in this juicy wine. A real bargain for such a heady Rhone.

We also got to taste a 2001 Domaine des Girasols Old Vines blend of grenache (90 percent) and carignane, fruit coming from 90-year-old and 50-year-old vines, respectively. An intense grenache from gnarly pre-WWII vines, it’s not available here as yet. Maybe a bit of lobbying will convince Gordy to import this one as well.

Both Cotes du Rhones and Rosé are available at Sunshine Market in St. Helena and on the list at Pearl Restaurant in Napa. You can also order the wine by contacting Gordy Larum at eyeonwine.com or calling him at 815-2619.