Domaine des Grottes

Romaine des Grottes arrived in Beaujolais as soon as he finished his studies in economics. He already had a son who loved the countryside and had no particular attachment to Paris, where he had grown up, not even when his grandfather offered to take care of the management of the Lacarelle family castle.

"In a short time I had two other children and my grandfather proposed me to take some vines from the castle", he says, "I took charge of the task and following the work of the workers I discovered that I liked working in the vineyards." Once the trade was taken into the hands, Romaine traces a rather eccentric path of work, challenging all conventional wisdom.

Located in the village of St Etienne des Ouillieres, south of Brouilly, Domaine des Grottes vineyards cover about 8 hectares, all certified by Demeter since 2007. The vines only make up about 4 out of 8 hectares as he has chosen to uproot every second or third vine to make room for permanent grass or cereal and thus encourage competition at an alarming low yield rate. Due to the very low density of 4000 plants per ha and the very low yield (12 hl/ha), only a few thousand bottles are produced annually.

The vineyards are treated as little as possible, not even with copper, and when necessary Romain uses preparations from different plants. In the cellar there are no additions, no filtrations and no elevage; just short semi-carbonic macerations, a moment in tank and result that hits straight at the core of good drinking.