Domaine du Deffends

A family estate, run by a team of enthusiasts, Deffends is a land of exceptional wines.

For almost forty years, we have worked every day to ensure that the deeply rooted vines enhance the freshness of these hillsides. Entirely in organic farming (Ecocert) our fields are one with an immense forest which protects them.

Managing the vineyard

Phytosanitary protection is carried out using natural products (sulphur, Bordeaux mixture, etc.) applied after daily observation of our vines, in conjunction with local winegrowers and departmental surveillance networks.

The vineyard is little exposed to traditional vine diseases. No or few leafhoppers, leafroller moth, no black rot, rarely downy mildew and gray rot. On the other hand, the pressure from powdery mildew is quite strong but our vigilance is enough to cope.

We fight against wood diseases, mainly esca, by prophylaxis: we remove and burn dead wood, disinfect cutting tools, even wounds and pruning and we replace dead feet. Every year we lose several hundred feet due to this cause.

We pay careful attention to working the soil to maintain its vitality. We do not use weedkillers. Depending on the year and the plots, we alternate between controlled grass cover and plowing. The amendment is always done with organic products dosed according to soil analysis in order to only provide what is necessary. Dry years can lead to a blockage of the vines, which is called water stress. Thanks to their 35-year-old root system deeply anchored in living soil, our vines have learned to find pockets of humidity hidden in the heart of the soil and are resistant to stress.

Winemaking

Harvesting is done at optimum phenolic maturity. The organization of the harvest site and the small size of the farm allow us to pick the grapes very quickly if necessary and thus perfectly take into account weather constraints. Some plots are collected in several batches to choose only the truly ripe bunches, or even parts of bunches, or to carry out maturity tests.

The vinification of our reds is done with the greatest respect for the quality of the berries. The grapes are hoisted to the top of the cellar in the same tray with which they were collected from the vines. Pigeage, an old Burgundian method which aims to ensure the homogeneity of the musts through physical mixing, is systematically used. The vertical structure of the cellar has been designed to limit pumping opportunities as much as possible and once the wine has completed its second so-called “malo-lactic” fermentation, it descends by gravity into the stave oak barrels of the cellar for aging. .

The rosé is produced by very light pressing (0.2 bar) because this is the method that best preserves the authenticity and freshness of the flavors of the berries. It finishes its fermentation in a vat, separated from the grape marc. It is composed of Cinsault, supported by Grenache.

The whites are produced after cold skin maceration, pressing and settling by fermentation started cold in vats or in barrels (demi-muids) of stave oak depending on the characteristics of the years. They are aged on lees with stirring and do not undergo malolactic fermentation.

For our red wines and our white wines we renew our barrels always with the aim of strengthening the expression of our terroir and not to extract wood juice. Our customers must not get splinters while drinking our wines!

Curious and passionate, we are constantly looking to improve our wines. By deepening the expression of the wines that we produce regularly (Champ de la Truffière, Champ du Sesterce, etc.) or by producing vintages that reflect the particularities of a vintage (Marie Liesse, Pointes, Rosé desfilles, etc.).