It all comes down to the soil : organic culture. The Domaine is run organically certified. A wine’s quality has its roots in the vine. A terroir gives nothing without being worked.

Working the soil to protect its individuality, the land’s diversity :
Each of the 15 parcels benefits from constant observation and patient individual cultivation.
In winter, we leave the grass between the rows of vines to avoid erosion during the heavy Autumn rain and enhance the soil’s life. We start ploughing with the first warm days getting rid of the grass naturally thus ensuring it doesn’t challenge the vine’s access to water. During the winter we treat with organic compost : grape based and sheep manure (from animals bred on the Larzac plateau).

In order that each grape reaches perfect maturity we remove unwanted bunches and prune hard. Yields are strictly controlled : 30-35 hectolitres per hectare on average.

We protect and encourage insect diversity in the vines :
the vines are separated from each other by woods, olive trees, scrubland, old stone walls. We’re even lucky enough to to have a few old ‘capitelles’ or round stone shelters which shepherds used to protect their flocks. Honey producers welcome the range of wild flowers and plants and our cultivation methods which pose no danger to the bees. The constant wind means vines dry fast after rain, so there’s little or no rot. We’re also lucky to be free of grape worm, which doesn’t exist in our area.

We’re incredibly lucky in all this : the danger of illness in the vines is reduced, and helps us grow the healthy grapes so indispensable in creating a great wine

Protecting the local inheritance :
At St Jean we’ve discovered a type of Cinsault grape known as œillade. Oval shapedwith a delicate skin, it was a table grape until the 1960s. Too delicate to transport any distance, it is excellent for wine production. But, in that plant centres no longer produce it, we clone some in certain patches of land so as to protect what we’ve inherited.

It bursts with fruit which you can enjoy in our ROSE ENTRE AMIS, SAINT-JEAN and LES MAROS wines.