Domaine Duseigneur is located on the West bank of the Rhône Valley, near the picturesque village of Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres, and in view of the slopes of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The 70-acre Estate straddles appelations of Côtes-du-Rhône Villages Laudun and Lirac.
The Estate was founded in 1967 by Jean Duseigneur, continuing a family tradition spanning four generations.
At that time there was nothing to see except wilderness colonised by green oaks, but Jean Duseigneur immediately recognised the potential of the hilly terrain with its red clay soil to give rise to an exceptional terroir. He started developing his vineyard the way he had been taught by his ancestors, based on the knowledge that it would be the soil which would secure the long-term future of the vineyard and unique qualities of the grapes grown on that land. The fine balance of the soils unique structure and ecology, which had evolved over time, was to be maintained by only natural means. So to achieve this, Jean Duseigneur made a conscientious decision to use only the best nature had to offer, and to grow his grapes without the use of pesticides or other chemicals. This visionary philosophy, which was contrary to trends at the time, was already close to the modern biodynamic farming concept.
The unique legacy put in place by Jean 40 years ago, was handed to the care of his two sons, Bernard and Frederic in 1992. They share the same passion for the soil as their father and have continued the heritage of high quality wine making using the traditional methods developed by the family over five generations.
Since 1997 the Duseigneur Estate has been meeting the requirements of organic farming. However, wanting to take this concept even further the Duseigneur brothers fully embraced biodynamic farming in 2004. |
