Type

White Wine

Appellation

IGP Ardeche

Variety

100% Chardonnay

This 100% Chardonnay comes from the clay-limestone terroir known locally as Gravette. The Chardonnay vineyards were planted starting in the 1960s around Valvignères, an area known for producing great wines dating back to the Romans. The name is derived from the Latin for valley of wine. Since the creation of the coop in the 1960s, the Vignerons Ardechois have used a decentralized system where 12 local vinification centers receive grapes from the nearby vineyards. The Chardonnay is produced in the Cave de Valvignères.

Viticulture

Soil type

Clay-limestone

Vine age1960s - 1980s (75% > 20 years old)

Vineyard size244 ha

PruningCordon Royat

ExpositionSouth & Southeast

Altitude250-300 m

Vinification

Stainless steel

Elevage3-4 months on the lees in stainless steel

Harvest typeMachine Harvested

Fining/FilteringFining with bentonite / Tangential filtering

Additional info

Total production average250,000 bottles

More about
the producer

Vignerons Ardèchois

Founded in 1967

6000 hectares

Founded in 1967, Vignerons Ardèchois is one of the largest and best-run cooperatives in southeastern France. The vineyards are farmed by 1,000 different families who tend between 5 and 25 hectares each. Vignerons Ardèchois allows them to preserve the rural atmosphere and way of life in the region - over half of the families still practice polyculture farming, and grow stone fruits, olives, almonds, and lavender in addition to tending their vineyards.

Located between the foothills of the Cévennes and the Rhône river at an average altitude of nearly 300 meters, the cooperative lies outside the typical division of Northern and Southern Rhône, and can be considered the “Wild West” of the Rhône Valley. The southern latitude allows the grapes to fully ripen, but the unusual fre...