Domaine Roche-Audran Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2021

The Rochette family has been cultivating vines for five generations. The current owner, Vincent Rochette was the first to ferment their grapes when he built a cellar in 1998. His father had embraced organic methods, and Vincent was always convinced that wines should be grown as naturally as possible. He believes that healthy, vibrant vines that are cultivated without chemicals will, over time, strengthen their own defences against illness and produce grapes that are less prone to problems in the cellar, thus requiring less intervention in the wine making process. In this vein, Vincent has always endeavoured to pursue the most natural wine-growing methods possible. Right from the start, Vincent embraced the extra dimension that biodynamic practices could bring and the domaine was finally certified Biodynamic in 2009. Organic and Biodynamic conversion for certification is relatively short at three and five years respectively. I am of the firm view that it takes much longer for these natural approaches in the vineyards to feed through into the quality of the wines. The reds are either fermented and aged in concrete, or very large upright foudres. There is no oak flavour influence on the red wines. Vincent adds very little sulphites to his wines and now grows two wines with no sulphites added – “Nature” and “Les Sables”.