Our Growers:

There have been Vaches in the village of Vacqueyras since the French revolution, but it was Christian's great-grandfather who acquired the Domaine La Monardière at the turn of the 20th century. The "Deux Monardes" refers to the two spinster daughters of the former owner; when they died, the Domaine, which until then had been farmed but not owned by Vache's great-grandfather, was acquired by him. Christian took over the vineyard in 1987 when his uncle retired. Prior to that, he was a computer engineer for Hewlett Packard. Christian grew up in vineyards and worked in them as a child and young man. Christian and his wife Martine and their son Damien work their 20 hectares (50 acres) of vines themselves. What

They plow their soil instead of systematically applying herbicides: this mechanical weeding aerates the soil and also improves drainage.

Vacqueyras "Les Calades": Les Calades is made for early bottling and early consumption. This does not mean that it will not keep and improve in bottle, but simply that it is meant to be approachable in its youth. The wine consists of 90% Grenache planted in 1948; 10% Syrah planted in 1965. The vineyard is in a single quartier called Les Calades locally, because of the quarries in the vicinity. It is just southeast of the village of Vacqueyras on the southern slope of the Dentelles, where it is well-sheltered from the Mistral. Vache has a total of 8 hectares of vines here. Two hectares of vines are used to make Les Calades cuvee, normally about 700 cases. The terroir is complex: there are very deep soils of heavy gray clay and limestone which produce powerful, well-structured, and somewhat rustic wine; and other soils, called grès-calcaire, which mix sandstone as well as limestone with clay and produce wine with much more finesse. The grapes are 100% de-stemmed. The vatting lasts 13 to 14 day with temperatures rising to only 29° C to conserve freshness and fruit and avoid extracting thick, hard, bitter tannins. This wine will make you think of a basket of ripe red fruit ripened in the sun. It is a warm wine which will seduce you with its southern France personality. It is meant to be drunk young when the fruit is at its most powerful.

Vacqueyras "Les Deux Monardes" is a more powerful, firmer wine that is bottled and released later than Les Calades. The grapes are 100% de-stemmed with a 15 to 20 day vatting. This is the Domaine's most complex cuvée. Some of the Domaine's finest Grenache goes into this cuvee. One hectare of 90 year-old Grenache is always the finest and longest of the Domaine, with black fruit, spice, resins and very "sweet," "melting" tannins. Grenache(70%) planted in 1955 (yields of 25 hl/hectare) produces wine that is extremely well-structured, deeply colored, spicy/peppery, astringent, rustic and even slightly bitter, but very good in a blend. There is 15 year-old Syrah(30%) from the Dentelles' lower slopes.

Vacqueyras "Vieilles Vignes" is composed exclusively of the Domaine's oldest vines: 60% Grenache (for fat, power and color), 20% Syrah and 20% Mourvèdre (for structure, aromatics and finesse). Vinification is complex. The vatting for the Syrah and the Mourvèdre is only 10-11 days, because Vache does pigeage in the vats. This is the ancient practice of getting into the vat and breaking up the cap/stirring up the hot spots with one's body to extract more color and polyphenols very gently. The vatting for the Grenache is longer, up to 20 days. Fermentation temperatures are allowed to rise to 31° C. Half of the cuvée is aged in vat, and half is aged for 8 months in Vache's 600-liter demi-muids that are 1 to 3 years old. This wine is a genial monument: profound wine, dark red fruit, resinous/licorice notes, the tannins are fine and "melted," as the French say. Some portion of a single hectare of 50 year-old Grenache vines from fine grès-calcaire soil goes into Vache's Vieilles Vignes. In addition, some of the single hectare of 60 year-old Grenache on a steep, east-facing slope with very strong clay-limestone soil and lots of rock makes for wine that is massive, high in alcohol but nevertheless very "cool" in impression, with anise and licorice notes. this wine is dense and chewy, with superb depth as well as richness. The Wine Advocate (2/23/2006) gives the 2004 vintage 90-92 points: “The outstanding, rich, full-bodied, intense 2004 Vacqueyras Vieilles Vignes boasts terrific fruit, abundant licorice and kirsch liqueur characteristics, and a spicy, rich, full-bodied finish. This knock-out Vacqueyras should drink well for 5-7 years.”

Vin de Pays de Vaucluse: Vache also makes an exceptional Vin de Pays de Vaucluse from 2 hectares of vines located only 10 meters outside the limit of the Vacqueyras Appellation on lower-lying gravelly/sandy soil that extends down towards the Ouvèze river. The Vin de Pays is 100% Grenache from vines that average more than 25 years.. The yield is about 50 hectoliters/hectare: Vache, in other words, is farming his Vin de Pays at Côtes-du-Rhône yields. The cuvaison is short, perhaps 6 days; the temperature is not allowed to rise above 25°/26° C.; and the wine is aged in vat. All of this is aimed at conserving delicious youthful fruit and obtaining a smooth, easy-drinking young wine that nevertheless has some real interest. Vache describes it as "an everyday wine."

Vacqueyras Rosé is given a 4 to 10 hour maceration on the skins. This rosé uses only the saignée method, where the coloring is done by skin contact rather than by mixing red and white wine. The vat is bled and the free-run juice taken off to ferment at 18° C. Total production of rosé is approximately 550 cases. The wine is made from 70% Grenache (35 year-old vines) and 30% Cinsault (50 year-old vines) on an east-facing slope with low-lying sandy soil yielding fruity wines with less structure than the other terroirs. Vache has 2 hectares here. The wine is peach-colored, very bright and firm with notes of rose, strawberry and nuttiness. Malolactic fermentation is blocked to conserve acidity and fruit. This is a fresh and fruity wine which is perfect for summer meals.

Domaine's webpage: http://www.monardiere.fr