Les Deux Cols

Les Deux Cols

An eight hectare property founded in 2016 and owned by Simon Tyrrell, Charles Derain and Gerard Maguire. Their organically farmed vineyards are aged between 30-70 years old and situated in the hills above the village of Saint Gervais in the northern part of the Gard. The altitude, sandy soils, surrounding forests and exposure to the Mistral, help bring freshness to the grapes. In the cellar, the approach depends on the parcels and the vintage with full crushing and de-stemming for some plots and partial de-stemming for others. Only indigenous yeasts are used and alcoholic fermentation is done in stainless steel tanks and generally below 25˚. Ageing takes place in tank for Alizé and demi-muid and 228 litre barrels for Trois Terroirs and Chemin des Fonts.

Rhône Valley
FRANCE

Their journey began in 2012

when two friends, Charles Derain and Simon Tyrrell, set out to achieve a long-held ambition of becoming vignerons in the Rhône Valley.

Their vineyards and surrounding land are isolated and stunningly beautiful and every effort is taken to co-exist with them.

The winery is situated in the village of Saint Nazaire at the eastern end of the Cèze Valley.

Farming is organic and the first plots were certified by Ecocert in 2020.

Viticulture

Having closely watched and experienced the evolution of the varied appellations and communes of the Rhône Valley over 15 years, we were utterly convinced by the future of this northern corner of the Gard. Lying between the Cevennes to the west, the Ardèche to the north and the Rhône River to the east and with close to 800mm of rain annually, it is greener and lusher than many other parts of the Southern Rhône. Grenache is king but Carignan and Cinsault are the pretenders. The youngest vines of the domaine in production were planted in 2003 and the oldest and most spectacular, in 1947. They are planted either in the traditional goblet or double cordon method and at a density of 4,000 vines per hectare. For each action in the vineyard, there is a reaction from the plants and therefore the aim is to find the right balance that allows the vines to produce high quality fruit, at the desired yield with minimum intervention. Much of the work is manual, entailing judicious pruning and de-budding, timely soil work and careful canopy management coupled with just enough organic spraying to make sure the plants are protected from disease. Harvesting is done by hand.

Winemaking

Tasting the berry maturity during numerous passages through the vineyards as the grapes get close to being fully ripe. This is the deciding factor in when to harvest, with balance being the main priority with a search for fruit, acidity and skin and pip ripeness the key factors. The patchwork nature of the vineyards means that the same plots may require picking more than once in order to harvest grapes at their optimum maturity. The grapes are hand harvested and put into small crates that carry a maximum of 13kg of fruit. This is in order to carry out careful bunch selection in the vineyard as well as to preserve the fruit and stop any oxidation as it is transferred from the vineyard to the winery. Depending on the variety, the stem ripeness and the overall characteristics of the vintage, we may crush and de-stem the grapes, de-stem only or add whole bunch to the tanks. Essentially we take each vintage on its merits. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in stainless and cement tanks and in general temperatures are kept low in order to accentuate the fruit quality. Only yeasts that are naturally found in the atmosphere of the winery or on the skins of the grapes are used. Maceration periods are relatively short with the tanks generally being racked as soon as alcoholic fermentation has finished. Malolactic fermentation and further ageing take place either in 600 litre demi-muids, 228 litre Burgundy barrels or tank, once again depending on the wine and the team’s interpretation of the vintage.

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