Domaine De Lorient - Laure Colombo & Dimitri Roulleau-Gallais
We built our winegrower's farm in Ardèche, on the heights of the granite and wild Saint-Péray at a place called Lorient.
We cultivate our vines by hand, on hillsides, between forests and meadows in harmony with nature, and with a lot of love!
Located in the appellations of Saint-Péray, Saint-Joseph and Cornas, our hillside vines are mainly cultivated by hand. This work is in fact very physical. This is precisely what makes it exciting and endearing because we are as close as possible to our vines. Agriculture is not an exact science and we realize every day that what we took for granted is no longer. We listen to nature and we grope our way.
Our vineyard plots are naturally surrounded by forests and meadows and we do not want this to change. We even reinforce this environment with country hedges of trees of local species, we have planted more than 500 since our arrival. For us, it is the local flora and fauna that contribute to the notion of terroir. From our bees and grasshoppers to large mammals, including birds and bats, we try to maintain a delicate balance. Respect their habitats, their hunting and drinking places.
We still have many questions about how best to preserve the humus of our soils. We have opted for several approaches: mulch our young plantations by mulching with fragmented rameal wood (BRF) from local forests, lightly and superficially work our rows, favor a variety of grass cover (green manures and honey) if possible not very competitive. Do not “take” too much from the vineyard (crushing on site and return the vine shoots) and add regularly (house manure thanks to our cows and horses or biofertil compost).
This is certainly not an end in itself, but the certification certification allows us to prove to our "drinkers" that the basis of healthy work, without chemical inputs, is carried out in our vineyard.