The wines of Domaine Duseigneur

Domaine Duseigneur is a family estate in the southern Rhône, with vineyards in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac and Laudun. It was founded in 1967 and is now run by Bernard Duseigneur, the fifth generation of winemakers in the family. The estate is known for its biodynamic approach and its old Grenache vines, some of them more than a hundred years old.

The Duseigneur family had made wine for generations, originally in Algeria. After decolonisation in the 1960s, Jean Duseigneur, like many other French winegrowers, had to return to France. In 1967 he made a new start in Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres, in the Lirac appellation, on the right bank of the Rhône directly opposite Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The land he bought was garrigue, the typical scrubland of southern France, with patches of woodland. Jean cleared it and planted Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. He had little money and a family to support, so out of necessity he used no weedkillers, chemical fertilisers or other chemicals. In effect, the estate worked naturally from the very start, long before it became fashionable.

From the 1990s his sons Frédéric and Bernard took over the work. In 1997 they officially converted to organic winegrowing, and in the early 2000s to biodynamics. Bernard, who had previously worked in finance in London, took over the management. In 2012 Frédéric left to set up as a biodynamic winegrowing consultant and to focus on his music.

An important step came in 2013, when Bernard bought 12 hectares of vineyards from Domaine Monpertuis in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Since then all the wines have been made in the cellar in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Some of the vineyards in Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres were sold. In 2020 his son François Duseigneur joined the estate.

The estate covers about 30 hectares in the southern Rhône Valley, spread across three appellations: around 13 hectares in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 4.5 hectares in Lirac and 14 hectares in Côtes du Rhône Villages Laudun. There is also a smaller area of Côtes du Rhône and a small plot with the regional designation IGP Vaucluse.

The vineyards are mostly planted with Grenache, alongside Syrah, Mourvèdre and the white Clairette. Many vines are old, on average fifty to sixty years. On the Les Colombis plot in Châteauneuf-du-Pape there are Grenache vines up to 135 years old, among the oldest in the appellation. The soil there consists mainly of sand and chalky gravel.

The estate works biodynamically, is a member of Biodyvin and holds both organic and Demeter certification. In the cellar the wines follow the character of the terroir, with spontaneous fermentation and maturation in large oak casks. The range is broad, with the top wines coming from Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Catarina is the estate's calling card. It comes as a red, mainly Grenache, and as a white made from 100 per cent Clairette. Joanna is a Grenache from the century-old vines on Les Colombis, with a yield of just 15 hectolitres per hectare and eighteen to twenty-four months of barrel ageing.

If you want to know more about this winery, here you will find the link to the website of Domaine Duseigneur.