Le Ver Libre

We are located in Rasteau, in the Vaucluse region, on approximately 7 hectares of contiguous land, including 5 hectares of vineyards and about thirty olive trees. Our story began in 2022 when we fell in love with this property, which included houses, outbuildings, and vineyard land.

From the moment we settled in, we made the choice to manage the estate using biodynamic, agro-ecological and regenerative agriculture principles;

No heavy machinery, no intensive soil work, management of permanent plant cover by mowing/cutting, we favour the biodiversity of natural plants which are often bio-indicators of the health of our soils.

Since the acquisition in May 2022, we have been certified organic by Ecocert. To be honest, the labels are not very convincing for us, as they don't always reflect reality and always represent an additional burden for the farmer in terms of time and financial resources.

In terms of plant protection, we primarily use plant-based products (fermented extracts, decoctions, herbal teas, whey, macerations, etc.) and a very small dose of copper in certain vintages. We aim to restore living soils, which is why we spray with numerous microorganisms, use basalt, and in short, care for the soils as much as we care for our vines, as if they were our children.

The idea is therefore to obtain living wines; thus, in the cellar, as few inputs as possible are used, and fermentations are carried out with indigenous yeasts.

The only input is the use of low doses of sulfites on certain vintages, mainly at bottling.

We have a small, fairly simple cellar at the moment, we harvest in small crates with significant sorting in the vineyard, we limit the crushing of the grapes (as few machines as possible) and we are generally minimally interventionist during fermentations.

We do all the tasks ourselves: from gentle pruning to harvesting and even bottling (we have a second business, providing packaging services).

The aging process is currently mainly carried out in vats, oak barrels and amphorae.

The domain has specific objectives, in terms of long-term resilience of the agricultural system and with the greatest possible respect for our environment: carbon storage and limiting pollution to the lowest possible level.

The soils are primarily clay-limestone with marl, silty and sandy tendencies, with a north and northwest exposure, spread across both plains and hillsides. We have natural springs and a stream near the plain. The vines are on average 50 years old. We always prioritize quality over quantity!

We produce Côtes du Rhône Villages wines in white and red, a rosé (coming soon), a dry red Rasteau, a VDN (Vin Doux Naturel, also coming soon), and a macerated white wine known as "orange wine." The orange wine is a cuvée made from 100% Ugni Blanc grapes, aged in old oak barrels, with no added sulfites and no filtration. The white Village wine is a blend of Ugni Blanc and Clairette grapes; it is generally lightly sulfited at bottling, simply to protect it during the bottling process, and may also be lightly filtered. All our wines undergo malolactic fermentation.

The reds are made from Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre grapes and a few others in small quantities, generally no sulfites are added, nor is there any filtration.

We have been trying to lengthen rearing periods in recent years.