"Ostal" translates to house, but by saying house the meaning is partly lost. The ostal is inseparably men and the succession of generations, animals, plants, buildings and land. We moved to the Lot in 2012. Since 2015, we have restored a small isolated farmhouse at the top of a hill. About twenty hectares in one piece, meadows, woods, old vines and plantations, fruit trees. We try to make the most of the place: the trees are used for buildings (cellars and homes), poles, heating; old fruit trees for juices (apple) and jams; sheep, goats, chickens, accompany us. The idea is to keep the farm size reasonable and modest so that you can do most of the work together and sometimes with passing friends.
Some of the vines are on the heights of Duravel (altitude 170m), three small side plots planted at the end of the 70s in the woods on a siderolithic hillside. (Zamble, Fioretti, Regain ...) The old vines of the farm in Puy l'Evêque have been preserved (A simple heart) and we have planted since 2016: A mass selection of cot (Maasaï), Mauzac / Loin de l 'Eye / Chenin (Jaune Bleu Blanc, Le Bleu du Ciel (chenin only)), a blend of a dozen grape varieties (Hilarius), hybrids (Chambourcin + old resistant varieties = Goupil). Spring 2021, we will plant Cot, Syrah, Muscat in Puy l'Evêque.
We do not use any wine input. The vinifications are varied, whole bunches crushed or in carbonic maceration, destemming. Vinification in wood, cement, barrels, stainless steel, fiber vats, but only one aging in barrels. All our wines are aged in an old quarry dug in the hard limestone rock located 5km from the cellar.
A dozen cuvées each year, 100% grapes. For the reds, mostly cost and a lot of old grape varieties. Whites since 2019 (mauzac, chenin, far from the eye).