Domaine des Pothiers - 'Colline en Flamme' - Gamay St. Romain - Côte Roannaise, Loire Valley, FR - 2021

A combination of biodynamic grapes from the Colline en Flamme parcel, and exceptionally this year, grapes from nearby Forez. With limited use of sulfites at bottling, La Colline en Flamme, is made of 100% Gamay St. Romain grapes that are hand-harvested, 2/3 destemmed and aged 6 months in concrete tanks, resulting in a dark red color with fruity (strawberry, blackberry, …) and floral aromas and a palate that has a beautiful minerality associated with a supple tannic structure.

La Colline en Flamme is an everyday red that we enjoy with anything from pizza to roast beef.

At the Loire’s springs
The Côte Roannaise is a vineyard of the Loire Valley, located at the south part of the river, near its springs. It’s settled on hills overlooking the Loire and forming the foothills of the Massif Central. Our vineyard is confidential, with only slightly more than 230 hectares (568 acres) of vines planted on the best granitic hills, between 400 and 500 meters (1200ft to 1500 ft) of elevation.
Centuries of experience
Our estate is located in the village of Villemontais, in the south part of the appellation. The Pothier family, our ancestors, has exploited it for centuries. The vine occupied the most part of it, a few cows being bred on the plots too humid for the vines. In 1916, Blaise Pothier is killed in the war; the estate is taken over by his sister and her husband, Claude Paire. In 1949, Benoît Paire, their son, inherited the estate and started modernizing it (The estate was 2ha of vines wide and lived mainly of breeding). His son, Georges, took his place in 1974.Passionate about vine, he started planting again, helped by his wife, Denise. The vine surface went up to 5 ha. In 2005, Romain joined his parents and got installed, taking his turn in the tradition. Plantations continue, the winery is modernized and the estate turns to organic then biodynamic growing. Today, the estate is once again mainly turned to vine growing (even though there’s still a little limousine cattle) and is 21ha big.
Wines at the closest of the grapes
Bearing the best quality in mind, all our grapes are harvested manually, which allows a drastic selection and thus to vinify only faultless grapes. The grapes are then put in the tank, destemmed or not, depending on the cuvee, without sulfates, and the fermentation starts with indigenous yeasts. During the entire vinification, we take care of our crop: Extraction is obtained softly by a few pumping over and punching of the cap. Transfers are made by gravity.

A natural farming
Our vines are planted at a density of roughly 5000 plants/hectare. We alternate plowing and green fertilizer culture in the interlines. The ground is plowed at the feet of the vine stocks to allow a deeper rooting. Fertilization comes only from our cattle composted manure. The short pruning ( cordon de Royat) combined with disbudding, thinning out of the leaves, trellising, etc. allows us to have a hold on the yields as well as an optimized aeration of the clusters, all this leading to a high maturity level synonym of perfect quality.

Gamay St Romain
The soils, very sandy and drainy, come from granit. They match perfectly our grape variety : the gamay St Romain. Some plots with more clay are destined to Chardonnay growing. The quality and the typicity of the Côte Roannaise wines earned them an AOC classification as early as 1994.

The Cattle: a natural and local production
Our estate stands out by its secondary activity: the breeding of limousine cows, a rustic breed renown for the quality of its meat. 35 hectares of meadow are kept for the breading of 25 animals/year. The heifers are bred and fattened naturally up to the age of 36 to 40 months. We give the same attention to our wines and to our cattle to get healthy and high quality products. A cooperation with a local, human sized, slaughter house allows a tailored, adaptable dry aging and cutting for each client. In a constant care of quality, respect of the environment and the consumer, the whole estate is farmed organically and biodynamically.