2. A Sustainable Future - Winemaker diaries, by Neasa Corish-Miquel

“Why not?” is a question we ask ourselves a lot.

Laurent is known as “the Thinker” and his questioning spirit is what led to his understanding that the answers to all of his questions lie in our vineyards - in the sun, the soil, the water and the wind.

This is how Laurent ended up challenging the norms of the region, to plant his vines in a north-south direction, rather than east to west. It made sense to him, as this way, the wines are more protected by the canopy of leaves from the intense heat of the southern midday sun, and still capture its warmth in the morning and evening. This same thinking influenced our “vendanges nocturnes” approach – picking our grapes at night, in order to retain acidity and ensure liveliness and freshness in the wines, both red (Syrah and Grenache) and white (Viognier, Chardonnay and Albariño). Laurent also decided to harvest our single-vineyard Syrah grapes at the exact point of ripeness, much earlier than in previous years. The result is fruit-forward and expressive reds, that are elegant and food-friendly.

Ultimately, Laurent’s entire philosophy can be summed up as being in the spirit of “Kaizen”, a Japanese word that means continuously doing a little bit better, resulting in steady progress towards perfection. Tenacity also plays a part - it took 5 years to get approval to construct the lake on our property, which helps us to manage water! It fills with water in winter (up to 500 million litres) and we use it to add drops of water to our vines during the arid growing months. We're HVE level 3 certified, committed to sustainability and leaving a positive legacy for the next generation.

Vines planted in a north - south direction

Laurent and his father Henri - "Monsieur Syrah"