DOMAINE SAINTE ROSE

 

Domaine Sainte Rose is an exceptional viticultural estate situated in the Languedoc region of southern France. The Domaine is owned by Charles and Ruth Simpson, a British couple who left their respective international careers to pursue their mutual dream to  establish a boutique vineyard and winery of their own. Since  purchasing the Domaine in 2002 the Simpson's have created a  successful range of high quality wines that are marketed in eleven different  countries to date.

 

          The Simpsons have a very specific quality-orientated strategy. Their improvements in the farming of the vineyards, combined with significant investment in state-of-the-art winemaking equipment and strict hygiene standards in the winery, has enabled them to achieve their goal of creating small quantities of authentic, hand-crafted,     family-made wines of distinction.  “We believe in a more intelligent approach to choosing wine. We employ New World techniques in the vineyard to improve the quality of the fruit so that in the winery we can make clean wines with minimal intervention”.

 

          The total surface area of Domaine de Sainte Rose is 50 hectares, with planted vineyards amounting to 33 hectares,  (80 acres).  The vineyards are all situated on an argilo-calcaire soil type and stretch from the deeper, more fertile flood plains beside the River Thongue up onto the gravelly slopes of the plateau.  “We work entirely in the Vin De Pays or what is now Indication Géographique Protégé (IGP) system, which  allows us to plant the grape varieties outside of the AOC classification . We classify all our wines as Pays D’Oc or IGP Cotes de Thongue due to the situation of the Domaine right beside the river.”

 

          This variation in the aspect of the vineyards has allowed a wide range of grape varieties to be planted.  For example, the varieties that originate from cooler climates such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot have been planted on the deep soils on the plain and the  indigenous southern French varieties of Syrah and Grenache are planted on the gravelly plateau.