You have recently arrived at the estate. What seduced you in Domaine de la Croix? Its major assets?
The vineyard benefits from a unique terroir. From a geological point of view, schist soils offer a real complexity and in terms of climate, the maritime influences offer an elegant signature to our cuvées. Domaine de la Croix is also an extraordinary work tool by its design. Its semi-buried architecture allows us to use gravity in the cellar and meet our quality requirements. The important asset is also the team: professionals passionate about their profession and endowed with an excellent knowledge of the field.
With your ranges Irrésistible, Eloge and Bastide Blanche, you define three distinct profiles. What are your targets?
The wines are built to meet different desires and moments without segmenting our clientele. The objective of our range is to propose complementary profiles: Irrésistible is a wine to share with friends, moreish and approachable. On the other hand, Eloge offers a more tense balance in the mouth and a silky minerality. With Bastide Blanche, we are looking for precision, elegant aromas and a harmonious relief.
What orientations have you decided to take?
One of the orientations that have been taken is the increase of the white grape variety. We increase the surfaces of Rolle and Sémillon because I believe that this “duo” allows more complexity without seeking for woody élevage which, in my opinion, sometimes mark the wines too much and are not conform to the identity of the peninsula of Saint-Tropez.
For the reds, we chose grass cover to improve the concentration and ensure an earlier vatting before the élevage to get the quintessence.
Finally, we started to think about the sustainable approach of our activity to get a certification.
Interview by Sylvia van der Velden
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