3 DOMAINE FRANCOIS VILLARD

 

VINEYARDS // 14 ha de rouges : AOC CÔTE RÔTIE, SAINT JOSEPH, DES COLLINES RHODANIENNES ; 12 ha de blancs : AOC CONDRIEU, SAINT JOSEPH, SAINT PÉRAY, VIN DE PAYS DES COLLINES RHODANIENNES.

CELLAR // Grapes hand-picked and partly destemmed. Macerated for about 3 weeks in vats. Reds vinified in open vats with cap-punching and pumping-over; aged in barrels. Whites: directly pressed, fermented and aged in temperature-controlled barrels.

LES VINS // CONDRIEU • Viognier (100%) • Deponcins: commune of Saint Michel sur Rhône, decomposed micaceous granite and loess soil • Le Grand Vallon: commune of Saint Pierre de Boeuf, decomposed quartzose granite and loess soil • Les Terrasses du Palat: commune of Chavanay, decomposed quartzose granite soil. CÔTE RÔTIE • Syrah (100%). Decomposed quartzose-schist soil • La Brocarde: lieu-dit “la Brocarde” • Le Gallet Blanc: blend from various lieux-dits. SAINT JOSEPH ROUGE • Syrah (100%) • Reflet: mainly from granitic-soil parcels in the communes of Limony, Chavanay and Saint Pierre de Boeuf • Mairlant: from the estate’s other wines in Ardoix, Félines and Chavanay. SAINT JOSEPH BLANC • Mairlant: Marsanne (50%), Roussanne (50%) • Fruit d’Avilleran: Marsanne (80%), Roussanne (20%). SAINT PÉRAY: Marsanne (100%), produced in the commune of Saint Péray; clay-granite soils. VIN DE PAYS DES COLLINES RHODANIENNES WHITE • Les Contours de Deponcins: Viognier. VIN DE PAYS DES COLLINES RHODANIENNES RED • Grande Grue Glacée: Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon • Les Garennes: Merlot, Syrah • L’Appel des Sereines: Syrah.

Domaine François Villard
Montjoux 42410 Saint Michel sur Rhône
Tél : +33(0)4 74 56 83 60   Fax: +33(0)4 74 56 87 78
Email : vinsvillard@wanadoo.fr

Passion fruit

Passion fruit François Villard worked as a chef for a time, and is himself a solid menu whose specialities are fricassée of independence, carpaccio of energy, gratin of boldness and sauté of ambition. All liberally seasoned with intuition. Who would have thought, when he breezily started out in 1989, that nearly 20 years later he would be one of the leaders in the northern Rhône Valley?Without ever losing his look of mischief, François has pushed on with what felt, quite simply, like a calling. He has built it all through a craving for pleasure and work. Neither cranky nor fearful, he has driven his ideas to the limit – often by instinct. Over the years everything has gelled into solid experience, and the man has forged a vigneron’s well-tempered resilience. In 1993 came the first press article and his first selection in a guide: François skipped around his kitchen, as joyful as a schoolkid in a playground. The youngster had always dreamed of one day ranking among the great winemakers; he was not arrogant, it just seemed self-evident. Thus could he forever feel the “vine magic” that had beguiled him when, aged 20, he had met his first growers. Thus could he give lifelong roots to an emotion, the way he had felt when, in 1987, he had tasted the Condrieu of Lucien Desormeaux. In Poncins, where he planted his very first vine, is a big rock. Sometimes, on days of doubt, François goes to sit on it: what if the dream were to end? A classic bout of the blues for a hyperactive grower who will never depart from his true nature: he is a wine adventurer.