Domaine de Lorient - A farm winery in the hills of Saint-Péray

8/8/23 -

This is one of our favorite times, when we get to introduce a new estate to our readers and share a story that has inspired us both through an agricultural model (and way of life), and through the glass. Today we take a moment to present Domaine de Lorient, a farm winery that is located on the highest spot of the Saint-Péray appellation, resting on a granitic hilltop overlooking the Rhone. It is truly a remote location, and a place where a humble vision is being lived out by young winemakers and paysans, Laure and Dimitri.

I would never use the word utopian because there is an obvious reality of very hard work, real toil, and challenge. It's a way of life that could be mocked by people (with little knowledge of the physical and emotional toll) as "hippie," but is very much a conscious choice and a true feat that involves a lot of sweat. So what exactly is a farm winery? In the simplest sense its a winery that does more than just make wine, but also cultivates other crops, and operates as a fully functional ecosystem, in this case with bees, cows, sheep, and chickens as invited guests and co-habitants, and with great encouragement for all of the local flora, fauna, and fungi. It's polyculture in a nutshell, without the use of chemical products or machines. Everything is by hand, and arm and leg. It's a good thing Laure and Dimitri aren't old! 

We first met Laure at a wine fair in France in 2022. I was a bit giddy about a good Saint-Péray, as I am a Roussanne fan who didn't know it, and the wines were fantastic. Plus it turned out Laure is a Colombo so she had some connections in the area and a little hookup with a hectare of Syrah in Cornas, along with a half-hectare of Syrah in Saint-Joseph that she and her partner Dimitri planted. Being a fan of northern Rhone whites, and having a decent chunk of a day free before visiting the affable (and under-the-radar most hilariously sarcastic French person I know) Jean Gonon, I inquired about a visit and two days later was driving up an endlessly curvy and progressively less paved road with my friend Ellis (from the Chambers NYC wine team). I don't know if he was 100% confident in my navigation for the last 10 minutes of the drive, but we eventually made it to the domaine, the last address on the long and winding lieu-dit called "Lorient," and a magical little microcosm run by two very warm-hearted and passionate individuals.

At this point, I feel compelled to share their explanation of the domaine and their life project. I'm not being lazy, they just wrote a nice explication en anglais!

"We are a young couple: Dimitri, former photographer [by way of Greece], and Laure, daughter of local winemakers.

We created our little winemaking farm in Ardèche in 2014 on the top hill of Saint-Péray AOC, between wild forests and fields, in a place called Lorient, because it faces the sunrise. We have now 20 hectares [around 50 acres] of diversified land.

We started from scratch by planting everything. Today we cultivate 4 hectares of vines in Saint-Péray, with a majority of Roussanne and a bit of Marsanne. We have 1 hectare in Cornas with exclusively Syrah and a half hectare in Saint-Joseph also with Syrah. In 2020 we planted 1.5 hectares of Mondeuse blanche and Mondeuse Noire in Vin de France.

We work our vines by hand, on steep slopes, trying always to respect our terroir and the nature in and around it. We are certified organic but we want to go much further. We want to bring back our vineyards to real nature, to make our paysan activity cohabitate with the wildlife, and to be part of the diversity.

We also try to live and feed people with what we grow on our farm. We cultivate wheat in the vines and sow plants so our bees can produce honey. We use our 2 cows, 10 sheep and 20 chickens for the manure. All our plots are planted with vines and a mix of fruit and forest trees. Each plot is surrounded by local trees to preserve biodiversity and all of our vines are massale selection.

In the cellar we keep the same philosophy, with minimal intervention in the winemaking process. Our wines contain very low amounts of added sulfites and are not filtered.

We also have a bed and breakfast on our farm where we propose all our home-made products (jams, apple juice, olive oil, almonds, milk, cheese, vegetables, meat, and even ice cream!)

-Laure & Dimitri"

At this point, I think you get the idea, so I should probably talk about the wines. Though we do have a small quantity of the reds that Laure and Dimitri produce from Syrah vines in Cornas and Saint-Joseph, the focus (and the majority of their output) is on the white wines from their young hilltop vineyards, planted to Roussanne and Marsanne. The wines remind me of extremely classic northern-Rhone expressions that meet the 'natural wine' spectrum but specifically in their purity, energy, and vibrancy. These are not funky wines, they're Rhone wines at their core. The reds are lively and the flavor profile is spot-on, but they are not tired, extracted or oaked, instead they are acid-driven, linear and elegant. The whites are great, and show two sides of the Roussanne/Marsanne compendium, delightful in their own right, but also quite compelling as a comparison. I think Laure and Dimitri's whites will eventually be extremely age worthy, but for those of us (like myself) who can't store a wine longer than 3 years tops (due to space and complete lack of patience), the wines we're offering today are ideal! I may stand corrected in 2030 if I do find a way to age a few Lorient bottles, but the immediate freshness and bright tones give these wines a lack of pretension and relieve us of any preciousness (for once when it comes to a Rhone wine!). 

Domaine de Lorient is an inspiring project that is in its infancy, but also seems fully thought out and bred with love, and a passion for an older way of life. We feel honored to be able to present the wines and hope to share many vintages with you as the years go by. If you're ever planning a trip to the Rhone, and have a car with reliable suspension, do look up Laure and Dimitri, or visit their website here to book their B&B. It may be a hike, but it's worth it!