Domaine des Pothiers La Chapelle Côte Roannaise Red Wine 2022

The domain

Domaine des Pothiers is located in Villemontais, in the southern part of the Côte Roannaise appellation. Initially, the family farm was largely devoted to cattle breeding, although vines were already present. The Pothier family subsequently developed the cultivation of existing plots...

A LITTLE HISTORY AT DOMAINE DES POTHIERS

Domaine des Pothiers has been handed down from generation to generation, a precious family heritage. In 1916, Blaise Pothier died in the war; his sister and her husband Claude Paire took over the estate. In 1949, their son Benoît Paire took over and began modernizing the existing two-hectare estate. He then handed over to his son Georges, who replanted the vineyard with the help of his wife, bringing the estate to 5 hectares. After ten years working with his father at Domaine des Pothiers, Romain Paire set up on his own in 2005. The work of enlarging the vineyard by planting new vines was continued, the vineyard was converted to organic and then biodynamic farming, and the winery was also modernized. Today, the estate boasts 22 hectares of vines, and the Limousin cows are still raised on a traditional, small-scale basis.

AN ATYPICAL VINEYARD

This Côte Roannaise vineyard is the southernmost in the Loire Valley, situated in the foothills of the Massif Central or, more generally, between Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand. Domaine des Pothiers is situated on a granite massif, which offers a real typicity: freshness, minerality and peppery notes. The aim is to preserve the fruity character of Gamay Saint-Romain, the appellation’s flagship grape variety. Les Pothiers also produces a number of white wines from Chardonnay, a parcel of Riesling and Pinot Gris (brought in by Romain Paire in 2007, as it did not exist in the appellation). As far as vineyard work is concerned, a return to tradition with the help of the horse is carried out in the very young vines for 1-2 years. The compost produced by cattle rearing is used in the vineyard, and the only products used are green manures. The entire harvest is carried out by hand to refine the sorting process. Finally, the wines are aged in truncated-cone vats made of wood or concrete. Romain Paire keeps the 500L barrels and foudres for his plot-based vats only.

DISCOVER DOMAINE DES POTHIERS WINES

Romaine Paire has turned to biodynamic viticulture to produce an array of natural wines, each more appetizing than the last. Fruit and drinkability are at the heart of the production of Les Pothiers red wines in the Côte Roannaise appellation and white wines in the Urfé IGP. There are several ranges to discover: fruit, which lives up to its name; terroirs, with the cuvée Aris, a Chardonnay that offers a fine introduction to the subject, and the cuvée Domaine, a supple, sapid red. Parcellaires, such as Domaine des Pothiers Fou de Chêne, L’intégrale, Diogène and La Chapelle, offer complexity and depth. Last but not least, the cuvée En Paradis, from a parcel of Riesling, promises emotion through a very liberated vision of this traditional Alsatian grape variety.