Domaine de Fondreche

Sébastien Vincenti, the founder and owner of this 38 hectare estate never sits on his laurels. There is a constant search for perfection, questioning every move and decision and the evolution in the quality of the wines has been a joy to behold. Sitting directly under the imposing Mont Ventoux and spread across three large parcels, the land benefits from both low disease pressure as well as the cooling effect of the mountain. The farming today has evolved from organic to Sébastien’s own interpretation with a greater use of cover crops, no chemicals and work carried out according to the lunar cycle. In the winery, Sébastien likes to de-stem the reds and ferment them in cement tanks with further ageing in foudres for his Grenache and barrels and concrete eggs for Syrah and Mourvèdre, the more reductive varieties. The white is fermented and aged in tank.

Rhône Valley

FRANCE

Wines cultivated under a lucky star

Our will is to privilege the most ecological solution in our production mode. In a non-dogmatic way, in a total independence and freedom of action, our vineyard team works to produce wines typical of this beautiful scenery.

When you are lucky enough to work in such an idyllic place, the necessity to respect and minimise our impact on the environment becomes natural. But we needed to do better than this. We needed to be an actor of this ecosystem, to be a part of it. In every wine bottle, there is a story. A story that wine can humbly tell, being only the fruit of it.

“It’s a tour de force and a new reference point for the Ventoux“
Joe Czerwinski novembre 2017 about Divergente 2016

“It’s the finest wines I’ve tasted from the Ventoux“
Jeb Dunnuck octobre 2017 about Divergente 2016

“Ventoux-the next hot thing“
Jancis Robinson octobre 2017

Viticulture

The 40 hectares vineyard is divided into three big parcels, each one dedicated to different specific production goals. The domaine’s white varieties are grown on two plots composed of sand and silt over limestone. The vineyard is cultivated without herbicides and natural or leguminous plants are sown to improve soil structure and biodiversity. All the vineyard work is carried out according to the lunar calendar although the domaine is not officially biodynamic or organic. The varieties planted are Grenache blanc (30%), Roussanne (30%), Clairette (30%) and Rolle (10%).

Winemaking

The grapes are harvested at night before being taken to the winery where they are pressed under a blanket of nitrogen gas. The juice is then settled for a minimum of 10 days before being transferred to temperature controlled tanks for the alcoholic fermentation. The wine then matured for a further 6 months on its fine lees and the malolactic fermentation was not done. The wine was bottled on a flower day, according to the biodynamic calendar.