Domaine Rouaud

In 2003, Sophie and Jerome Rouaud embark: after training in Bordeaux, they settled on an existing vineyard of 9 hectares (25 years on average) at Pezilla River, bordering the Tet, many Mother River large areas of the Roussillon. The grapes previously brought to the cooperative, will now be bottled and vines conducted as a Grand Cru "with onions". The vineyards are worked in organic farming since the beginning (Ecocert certification in 2004). The meticulous care of the vines are almost all textbooks and contribute to the development of microbial life in the soil (not compacted by tractors), balance vine basement, respect for biodiversity, in short to local identity: winter pruning, bud removal, lifting, suckering and harvest, this is all manual. When necessary, some natural compost (certified organic), reinforces the balance of the soil. Each vine is planted from transplants performed on mass selection of old vines in the field. The vines (oldest Carignan vines were planted in 1949) are located on terraces and have a particularly benevolent microclimate of sunshine, low rainfall and dry prevailing north wind (ideal for maintaining good health status of a bio field) .  Soils, from the quaternary, are firstly clay stony (pebbles-quartz-clay-gneiss red and yellow) and secondly pulverized shale. Yields vary depending on the vintage, and the vintage between 15 and 20 hl / ha. The planting is very traditional to the Côtes du Roussillon Villages: - Red: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan black and gray. - White: Muscat Petits Grains, Macabéo Carignan white, white Grenache. A perfectly held vines, add the same care to the cellar to make great wines. This is also the case in Rouaud, always as naturally as possible. All best practices are followed to the letter in winemaking: when the manual harvest arrives in the cellar (after a search of optimum maturity, avoiding over-ripe), it is de-stemmed, stride, and each grape variety and each plot benefit a separate winemaking (with natural yeast): it allows to fit each "juice" the frequency of pumping, the (light) punching, and duration of fermentation. Sulfur is fortunately not banned, because wine must maintain its quality during transport and when he sees the light, but kept to a minimum: the field of dry wines contain between 25 and 60 mg / L of SO2, it which is ridiculous by the allowed threshold (160-200 mg / L).