Brothers Yves and Hugues Ricome have grown grapes on this 50 hectare estate in Montagnac for over 30 years. Situated about an hour’s drive from Montpellier, their 27 hectares of vineyards are grouped around the estate and nestled between the Bassin de Thau and clay-limestones hills.
La Croix Gratiot – Languedoc
Languedoc, France
La Croix Gratiot
Origins
After selling their grapes to other winemakers and negociants for well over a decade, the brothers made the big decision to make their own wine. They built a dedicated cellar in 2004 and started bottling their wines the following year. And that was just part of an even more exciting plan for the winery….
In 2009, and after extensive stints as assistant winemaker for both Saint Clair and Craggy Range in New Zealand, Yves’ daughter, Anaïs, took up the reins at La Croix Gratiot as winemaker. Being a young woman in a male-dominated industry, she fought hard to gain respect amongst her peers and bring life to fresh and bold ideas at the newly established estate. Chief amongst these was to create a range of wines other than their Picpoul de Pinet, the Flagship wine of the estate as well as the only AOP of the region.
Anais knew that other grape varieties would work just as well as Picpoul. The warm days during the growing season result in ripe and flavoursome grapes, and the Mediterranean climate allows them to fully mature and further develop their characteristics during the winemaking process. Anaïs quickly made a bold decision to plant Pinot Noir and we’ve been importing her Pinot Noir Les Zazous almost since her first release. Anaïs’ other favourite grape variety is Roussanne, which makes an appearance in her blended white Desir Blanc.
Approach
What we love about Anaïs’ wines is their freshness, purity and fruit-driven style with excellent balancing acidity. She achieves these characteristics by harvesting at night, using low temperature fermentation and making the most of the cooling influence of the nearby Mediterranean sea. All three available wines are sealed under Stelvin to help retain their fresh aromas.
We have been importing Anaïs’ wines since 2013. Importing means we reduce extraneous costs and can offer the best possible value to our customers.
The environment and nature have always been precious to everyone at La Croix Gratiot. They respect and work in harmony with the soil and the elements, preferring mechanical weeding to the use of chemicals. On selected plots, every second row is grassed over. To help maintain biodiversity, they encourage the growth of a wide variety of shrubs along the stream, which runs across the vineyard.