Domaine de l'Oratoire Saint Martin

Cairanne, Southern Rhône

Represented by Pierre Fabre

Grand Tasting Wines:
Cairanne rouge cuvée Les Douyes 2019

Cairanne rouge cuvée Réserve des Seigneurs 2019

Cairanne rouge cuvée Haut Coustias 2019

Frédéric and François Alary took over Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint-Martin in 1984 and worked 25 hectares on the Saint Martin hillsides including the Oratoire, built in the middle of the vineyard, which gave its name to the estate.

The main part of the domaine is situated to the north east of Cairanne, 200 metres from the hills of Rasteau in a zone commonly called “ la Montagne '' in the Les Douyes et Saint Martin districts. They are steep-sloped and the steeper parts require the usage of machinery with tracks. It is a very stony soil with yellow clay on the surface and blue clay deeper and a very high percentage of active limestone.

The two brothers act like gourmets before the harvest. They taste, chomp, chew the seeds day after day and sometimes several times a day. That is where everything begins, where everything is settled and their ideal is as simple as ABC: "a wine to drink over and over again", a subtle wine, with fruit hints, harmonious and vigorous at the same time and which would ideally gather rugby men and ballet dancers, sweet dreamers and loudmouths, curious amateurs and picky aficionados.

In other words, a pacification wine but above all a wine that is just like them: "deeply rooted, in the limestone and the yellow and blue clays of our terroir and open to the world at the same time."

This is what they claim out loud and why they are ready to make every sacrifice and endeavors. They want to improve with all humility and to come a little closer to their dreams and they know perfectly well that one lifetime is not enough.