This area is charmingly rustic and wild. The stony cliff called De La Salle pierces through the land at the fault of Saint-Christophe, while terraced vineyards follow the slope of the cliff and seem to plunge, at the end, in the fold of a waterfall at the rock’s base.

Facing southeast, these sunny vineyards form a circle that is sheltered from the northern “mistral” winds, and the rock itself absorbs the heat of the day.

There’s something exuberant and joyful in this landscape, a feeling that I’ve also found expressed in our wine. The flavors of Grenache here are more Mediterranean, plush and sunny. Our family leased these vineyards when Gilles joined my father at the domaine in 1985. On the other side of the valley of Fenouillet, located on a wooded slope, we also care for two vineyards on a unique vein of orange clay from the Triassic period. These soils are rich in iron, which contributes tension and fluidity to the final blended wine.