Domaine Thomas Rouanet

Thomas Rouanet grew up surrounded by vineyards in the beautiful Languedoc village of Creissan just a few miles from Saint Chinian. He was close to his grandfather, working alongside and learning from him in the family vineyards, which his grandfather converted to organics in the 90s. After studying literature and sport, Thomas started a winemaking course in Montpellier. He was influenced by local vigneron Yannick Pelletier, who farms organically, and works in a low-intervention way in the cellar. Thomas took over five hectares from his grandfather in 2013. This consisted of 65-75-year-old parcels of bush vine Carignan plus 40-50 year old Grenache, Alicante Bouschet and Aramon. The soils in the foothills of Saint Chinian are clay and limestone which Thomas says brings freshness to the wines. Due to his grandfather's work, the foundations of the vineyards - working with organic composts, restoring hedgerows to preserve biodiversity - were solid, but the winemaking less so. Thomas started to ferment with native yeasts, use some whole bunch and employ more gentle extraction , the results are much lighter on their feet than you might expect from the Languedoc.