Natural Wine from Ardèche
The Ardèche vineyard is spread over more than 8,500 hectares along the Rhône Valley , between the Condrieux and Saint-Joseph appellations to the north and the town of Orange to the south. This makes it a magnificent meeting point between the Syrah of the north and the Grenache of the south!
This wine-growing area underwent a major restructuring plan in the seventies, which aimed to reduce the production areas in order to produce less and better . A major campaign of uprooting and replanting took place and all the hybrid grape varieties were replaced by so-called “ noble ” grape varieties such as Grenache , Cinsault , Syrah , Gamay , Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot , a grape variety that is still used today. As for the white grape varieties , we can find a great similarity with the whites of the Rhône since we find Chardonnay , Viognier , Grenache Blanc , Roussanne , Marsanne but also Sauvignon and Clairette . These foothills of the Massif Central also offer us a beautiful multitude of terroirs where garrigue lands 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 winemakers looking to settle in a beautiful and rich wine-growing region. Because in fact, even if 14 cooperative wineries vinify more than 90% of the production of this vineyard, there are many new installations in this territory. Installations 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 Petite Nature estate who, after training with big names in natural winemaking in the heart of Ardèche: Jean Delobre at the Ferme des Sept Lunes as well as with Daniel Sage , decided to settle 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 his side seek to create the purest natural wines possible. A 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 produced without chemical additives or the addition of S02.
