Historical Facts
1925 • First harvest of Syrah at the domain by Benoit CHIRAT.
1948 • Georges joins his father on the estate, they work together until 1970.
1980 • First plantation of Condrieu below the church of St. Michel.
1984 • Installation of Gilbert.
1985 • First vinification of CONDRIEU.
1990 to 2000 • Stoppage of all fruit production in favour of vines with the plantation of CONDRIEU, SYRAH and VIOGNIER.
2001 • Construction of the new cellar.
2007 • First vinification of RED SAINT JOSEPH.
2012 • Installation of Aurélien Chirat, young agriculturist. First vinification of WHITE SAINT JOSEPH.
2013 • Creation of a cuvée : CONDRIEU CLOS PONCINS.
2014 • Extension of the Cellar and first vinification of COTE ROTIE from Cote Rozier.
2017 • A new cuvée call SOLISTE of Saint Joseph rouge is born from the south of the Appelation.
2019 • The estate obtains the HVE3 High Environmental Value Label, proof of our commitment to sustainable viticulture.
70% of the estate is worked with 0 chemical weed killers, 30% of the estate follow for the organic method production
2020 • A plot selection named Lieu-Dit La Cote in Saint Joseph rouge will the "Les Cotes"
and a plot selection named CONDRIEU Lieu-Dit "Sous L’église" will complete the CONDRIEU range.
2023 • Gilbert take his retirement after more than 40 years in the domaine, thanks for all.
• good stuf for the earth : This years we buy some solar panels and a wax machin to stop use caps
The Vineyard
Located in the north of the Rhone Valley, 50km south of Lyon, in the village of St. Michel sur Rhone. Our vines are situated on impressive terraces on steep slopes, consequence of the passage of a millenary river : Le Rhône.
Our vines are on the right bank of this river with an exposition south-east, on a good geological uniformity with a granite dominance.
On this steep part of the Rhone Valley, the first traces of vine leaves go back to well before the conquest of Gaul by the Romans.
Vienne was already famous for its wines from the second century B.C.
Our method of work in the vines is simple: we wish to produce the best possible grapes.
We practise a reasoned viticulture based on the observation of the different stages of the vine :
«The right action at the right moment».
All the work on the vine which is indispensable for the quality of the grapes is put into use, thinning out of the leaves, no weeding out.
The vines situated on the hillsides (the wines of appellation of protected origin) have a plantation density of about 7500 plants per hectare, the aim being to reduce the vigour of the plants. The vine-stocks then produce fewer bunches with quality grapes, more concentrated and richer in aromas.
The vines planted wide and on the upper parts of the slopes (Vin de Pays) with only 5500 plants per hectare have no weeding out, which regulates the vigour, limits erosion and the use of chemical weed-killers.
Since 2019, the HVE certified domain demonstrates our commitment to clean viticulture.
The Cellar
For all the wines : Manual grape gathering, meticulous selection of the grapes. No yeasting during the fermentation are add.
For the «CONDRIEU» and «White ST-JOSEPH» : pressing in whole bunches, debourbage under cold conditions, alcoholic and malolacticfermentation in tank and barrel barrels, Malolactic fermentation are do or not depend of vintage.
For the «White Vins de Pays» : Pressing, debourbage under cold conditions, alcoholic on steanless tank malolactic fermentation are do or not depend the vintage.
For the red wines for keeping : «ST-JOSEPH» «CÔTE RÔTIE» and «SYRAH OR PISTE» : Grapes picked totally by hand, destem of not depend the year, alcoholic fermentation in open vats for two or three weeks with plunging hat remontagesonly are do, pressing, and maturation in barrels for one year for the ST JOSEPH and Or Piste and 18 months for the CÔTE RÔTIE.
For the reds of medium and short keeping: «Les Chirats» : whole bunches with the semi carbonic method during 1 weeks with regular remontages, pressing and maturation in stainless steel vats and old 500L barrels.
To keep the best of our work and to avoid cork taste and oxydation, all our wine are closed with green select and reserva cork of nomacorc
info: https://www.vinventions.com/en-gb/nomacorc-select-green
The new barrels we use for come from French oak and center of Europe oak.
Since the 2019 Harvest, we acquired 2 25HL lightnings from VARDA & STOCKINGER in Austria, the flagships of the worldwide lightning strike.
The cellar has a system of temperature regulation, in order to reduce as much as possible any variations in the temperature, harmful for the wine.