Domaine de la Monardière

Vacqueyras, Southern Rhône

Represented by Damien Vache

Grand Tasting Wines:
Les 2 Monardes 2019

Vieilles Vignes 2019

Galéjade (Blanc) 2020

Vieilles Vignes 2012

Of the 175 wine growers in Vacqueyras; only 45 are bottling their own wines and selling direct from the domaine, with the rest selling to the co-op (central negociant) or to one of the three négociants in town. The Vache family of Domaine la Monardière falls amongst the growers. The Vache family bought their domaine in 1987 from the Monarde family, and immediately got to work revitalizing the vineyards, building a new winemaking facility. They began by selling the wines directly from the property. The Vaches also harvest all of their vineyards by hand, which is not a requirement of AOC Vacqueyras, nor is it a common practice. They have been working organically in the vineyards since 2000, but only began the certification process in 2007, and have now been certified since 2010.

They have 22 hectares total, 18 hectares in Vacqueyras and 4 hectares in the Vaucluse. They never purchase any fruit or must. Monardiere has a lot of sandy soil and so they make a significant amount of rose and white - the total for both in the appellation is only 5%, but 15% of Monardiere's wine is rose and another 15% is white. Sixty percent of the appellation is on a plateau with a lot of stones and a clay subsoil.  For all of the wines, they work with lower yields than the 36hl/ha that are allowed. They normally average 30-32hl/ha, but recent vintages have been hit hard with yields as low as 22 hl/ha in 2012 and 18hl/ha in 2013!