Ardèche
The Ardéchois vineyard is a vineyard spread over more than 8,500 ha throughout the Rhône valley, between the Condrieux and Saint-Joseph appellations in the north and the town of Orange in the south. Which makes it a magnificent meeting point between Syrah from the north and Grenache from the south!
This wine-growing area demonstrated a major restructuring plan in the 1970s which aimed to reduce the production areas in order to be able to produce less and better. A major uprooting and replanting campaign then took place and all the hybrid grape varieties were then replaced by so-called “noble” grape varieties such as Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Gamay, Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, a grape variety which is still used today. . Regarding the white grape varieties, we can find great similarities with the whites of the Rhône since we find Chardonnay, Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne but also Sauvignon as well as Clairette. These foothills of the Massif Central also offer us a beautiful multitude of terroirs where scrublands with their brown and stony soils mix with ancient alluvial terraces, while passing through marly limestone and other Jurassic sandstones.
A perfect playground for many young natural winegrowers looking to settle in a beautiful and rich wine region. Because in fact, even if 14 cooperative cellars vinify more than 90% of the production of this vineyard, there are many new installations in this territory. Facilities which are for the vast majority organic, biodynamic and in this search for the most natural winemaking possible. The proof is with the arrival of Pauline Maziou in 2019 with her estate Petite Nature who, after having trained with big names in natural winemaking in the heart of Ardèche: Jean Delobre at the Ferme des Sept Lunes as well as at Daniel Sage, decided to settle down there. This was also the case for Andréa Calek, who settled there after a stint with another great natural winemaker in the area: Gérald Oustric. Without any compromise, Andréa Calek and Stéfana Nicolescu at her side seek to create the purest natural wines possible. Philosophy of course shared with Pauline Maziou but also with Patricia and Rémi Bonneton of Domaine de l'Alezan, an estate now well known to all lovers of natural Ardèche wines where all the wines are made without chemical inputs or the addition of S02.
