Domaine des Miquettes - Paul Estève & Chrystelle Vareille
RHÔNE
Within the Saint-Joseph appellation, in the Ardèche part of the Northern Rhône, Paul Estève and Chrystelle Vareille are outliers. In addition to opting for organic viticulture and vinification without any inputs, they produce wines resulting from maceration of the grapes - both white and red - in Spanish terracotta amphorae which constitute the buried vat room of their 'marani' (cellar in Georgian ). With a single ambition: to achieve the greatest drinkability in the most frank and pure expression of the terroir.
Paul Estève and Chrystelle Vareille began to build their Domaine des Miquettes in 2003 from a few Estève family vines – in Cheminas, north-west of Tournon –, soon increased by hillside plots which gradually increased the vineyard to 6 hectares, with Syrah for the reds, and Marsanne and Viognier for the whites. From the outset, they opted for work that excludes any chemical input and any adjuvant. Then, adopting the thousand-year-old tradition of Georgian winemaking, they choose buried terracotta containers, Spanish jars (tinajas) similar to Georgian qvevri, where white and red wines are macerated, vinified and matured. In 2020, they made the decision to concentrate on the best plots and to reduce the estate to 2.5 hectares. Their uncompromising desire remains the same: to produce cuvées with frank fruit, tannins that are both taut and silky, whites and reds of texture and energy.
