A unique soil

The Montvac vineyard is situated on a particularly tormented geological site. It alternates between the plateaux consisting of compact red clay with pebbles as in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the hills and slopes of the Dentelles de Montmirail where the vines are planted on terraces bordered with pines and gorse bushes.
The diversity of the soils enable our different black (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) and the white (Roussane, Clairette, Bourboulenc) grape varieties to have their own favourite land and to blossom fully in the hot provençal sun, developing their aromas enhanced with the specific scents of the garrigues and spices inherited from the environment.
The Domaine de Montvac with its 24 hectares produces mainly Vacqueyras and Gigondas wines but it also produces Cotes du Rhone wines. This is due to the fact that certain plots have been voluntarily de-classified after having been judged of an inferior quality.

A sensible cultivation.

In order to preserve the natural character of the product the Domaine de Montvac does not use chemical weed killers and applies a sensible protection policy against illnesses and predators. All treatments are interrupted at the end of July so that there are no remaining residues at the time of harvest in September and the beginning of October.

A know-how

The vinification is the crucial phase for red wines. Ulterior maturing is only useful for developing the revealed or potential qualities of the different wines. Apart from transforming the sugar into alcohol the vinification should enable the extraction from the must, which only contains water, sugar and the acids, the noble attributes such as the colour, the tannic structure and the aromas that are present in the skin and grape seeds. A slow fermentation at a controlled temperature allows for the development of the final quality character: the unctuousness that can be seen by the traces that the wine leaves after swirling, on the sides of the glass.
We control the delicate operation for 8 tanks in production that are tasted and analytically monitored morning and evening with the unceasing efforts of 3 people; the result can only depend on the intrinsic quality of the harvest.
For the whites, with our southern varieties, we have opted for a vinification in new barrels, in the burgundy manner passed via stick lees sticks every 2 two days when maturing in order to re-suspend the yeast that gives the wines the fleshy and round elements.