This family estate was created by my grandfather, Georges Passot, in the 1960s. He was succeeded by my parents, Alain & Véronique, in 1979 and since 2018 it has been my turn, the third generation! After various sommelier experiences in France and abroad, I decided to return to my native land in Chiroubles. Today we cultivate 9 ha of vines on three vintages using organic farming.

In winter, we practice cup pruning, which is non-mutilating and respects sap flows. It is a short size which favors a low yield for a quality harvest.

In spring/summer: We disbud, that is to say we remove the duplicate buds, the greedy ones on the vine, especially in the young vines. In order to have well-ventilated bunches, avoid cryptogamic diseases (mildew, powdery mildew, etc.), limit the load always with the objective of a quality harvest. The scratches remain superficial and are carried out either by straddle tractor or by plow pulled by a cable operated by a winch, because many of our plots cannot be mechanized by tractor!

Then it's the lifting period, we lift the vines to prevent the foliage from being on the ground and which would cause cryptogamic diseases, because let's not forget the vine is a creeping vine! Most of our vines are not installed on a trellised structure (wires + stakes) so we practice wicker lifting. We carry out our treatments preventively using copper to fight against downy mildew and sulfur to fight against powdery mildew but also plants (nettles, horsetail, comfrey) in herbal tea or decoction.

All wines are vinified in the same way in order to best bring out the expression of its terroir. It is a traditional so-called “semi-carbonic” vinification in whole clusters with a few small pumping overs but above all in infusion for the entire duration of maceration, i.e. around ten days and at low temperature, not above 25°C. It is also natural: no input during vinification, spontaneous start of alcoholic fermentation with native yeasts and no added sulphite.