On 250 acres of land in the hills above the village of Valréas, a beautiful Provençal house, surrounded by olive and truffle oak trees, lavender fields and thick forest, is the center of the idyllic micro-estate of Domaine du Seminaire. The vineyards are near the northern limit of ripening Grenache, in the colder foothills of the Alps, where they are swept by the strong mistral winds. Hervé Pouizin, the 4th generation farmer of this land, has, with his wife, Mathilde, preserved the self-sufficient estate mostly as it was a century ago, with one key exception: they converted everything to organic farming. Fermenting their wines in the same huge concrete tanks since 1938, the couple takes an old-school approach to winemaking and uses no oak, allowing the pristine fruit to shine through.
As a result, their wines are high-toned, bright and floral, not heavy and dense like some Southern Rhône wines (it gets warm here). 'Les Séguines' is textbook Rhône white, with a lift. It smells like pineapple and flowers, and tastes like Sweet Tarts and tropical fruit and lemon curd, with a pleasant bitterness and bright acidity, making this a fantastic wine for all the fall foods starting to grace our tables.
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic/biodynamic farming (certified); fermented and aged in cement; bottled unfined, unfiltered, with minimal added SO2; 13.5% ABV
Winemaker: Mathilde Mure
Grapes: Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier, Clairette, Grenache Blanc
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