Our expertise
Refined winemaking through the generations

Passionate about viticulture

Growing vines is a never-ending vocation, with cycles that are infinitely repeated in accordance with the seasons. Every year, the same basic operations are carried out in the vineyard, but vary constantly according to the weather, the soil, the presence of insects, and the phases of the moon. Viticulture involves the quest for balance more than anything else. We do our utmost to enable the vines to thrive in their natural environment.

The four seasons of Domaine la Barroche

Spring …
a race against the clock

This is when the vines wake up after their long hibernation, and it is necessary to concentrate four months of work into a single one… Late March-early April is time to finish pruning, straighten up vines blown down by the Mistral, tie up the Syrah, look after the young vines, distribute pheromone capsules for mating disruption – not forgetting working the soil: hoeing, light ploughing and unearthing the trunk of the vines. And all that before budbreak!

Since we do not use chemical weed killers, we also need to remove the grass that overruns the vineyard with alarming regularity…

In late spring, we practise meticulous bud thinning, which helps to control yields and give precedence to fruit-bearing buds. This work, like winter pruning, is of vital importance, and is the vineyard operation that calls for the most reflection.

Automn is like a comic strip:

CLIP! BANG! VLOP! and ZIP!

Our nerves are on edge as the harvest approaches… Autumn is a stressful time of year, and only calms down once the grapes have all been brought in. The electric atmosphere begins in the vineyard with the clipping of secateurs and the sound of grape bunches falling into baskets. The grapes are entirely hand-picked and rigorously sorted. We rely on a team of pickers that remains essentially unchanged from one year to the next, even if there are always some new faces. We are delighted to see old friends!

We are also on our toes in the cellar at this time, polishing the last vats and waiting for the grapes to arrive. Making wine is always a pleasure, even if it is never an entirely restful proposition. The wines undergo gentle pigeage (punching down the cap) every 12 hours for all the goodness to be extracted from the skins. The wine ferments slowly, like a stew gently bubbling on the back burner.

After several weeks of fermentation, in November, calm descends over the vineyard, the last leaves change colour and the cold weather returns.