The small town of Lavandou offers an incomparable setting of protected nature and beaches on the Var coast. Spreading over more than 12 kilometers, the municipality has plenty of carefully maintained and watched-over jewels, twelve fine sand beaches and intact and wild small creeks. But it also counts another jewel, single vineyard on its territory: Domaine de l'Anglade.
The Van Dorens were not a family of wine growers but musicians. They arrived in Provence for its richness in Provence reed, a variety of wicker used for the manufacturing of reeds for clarinets and saxophones they produce. The domain of 40 hectares of which 18 of vines, acquired in 1925, was a piece of Eugène Van Doren's heart who fell in love for its greenery and undertook to protect it to produce some wine for his own consumption. His son Robert suspected the potential and invested massively to modernize the installations. Wines of the Domaine de l'Anglade gain nobility and the future of the vineyard was assured. The relay was taken by his son Bernard, the current owner. The passion of the earth did not however erase that of music, and Bernard continues to manage the domain and the reeds factory on both fronts.
Feet in the water, L'Anglade has exceptional natural assets and Bernard Van Doren works to protect them. Here the vine is grown the most naturally possible by collaborating with the environment to create a beneficial biodiversity: no chemical fertilizers, no weedkillers, grassing, use of reed chips to structure the ground.
Bernard works closely with his vineyard manager Claude Audibert. Together they replanted barely known grape varieties. “Upon my arrival, I had the will to increase quality, to produce different and racy wines stemming from vines which I appreciate and little spread in the region like Cabernet or Merlot”, Bernard explains.
He decided to work under the label IGP des Maures, a technical constraint but a guarantee for the consumer. His range is simple and readable: a white stemming from the Ugni Blanc, Rolle and Sémillon; two rosés (Grenache, Merlot, Syrah and Cinsault); three red wines among which two monovarietals. 60,000 bottles leave the cellars every year.
The grapes are picked early in the morning. They are destemmed, berries are kept whole for the red wine. They will be crushed for the rosé. The plots of land and the grape varieties are vinified separately to assure a greater finesse in the blend. In the cellar, Claude's daughter Armeline takes over the wine making. Trained enologist, she has joined her father in 2007.
Wines will age in 228 l French oak barrels in a magnificent cellar, also used for the receptions, where the alliance of the stone and the wood invites for tasting in a constant freshness. Built against the rock, it benefits from optimum humidité and temperature.
Since Bernard Van Doren's arrival, the wines of Domaine de l'Anglade moved upmarket and the long work and passion are regularly rewarded and recognized. In 2015 only, the Mondial du Rosé “Concours des Oenologues de France” awarded the silver medal to Cuvée Tradition Rosé 2014; at Féminalise 2015, the Merlot Longue Macération 2011 received the gold medal, and the Cuvée Tradition Rosé 2014 and the white 2014 the silver. Tasted by the sommeliers of the UDSF at Villa Massalia in April, the fruity, freshness and the deliciousness of the Anglade wines were confirmed.
The domaine de l'Anglade became one of the most beautiful addresses of the coast. Doors are open to whom wants to stop to enjoy the freshness of the cellars or the lake of the domain, and a glass of rosé!
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