Driving towards Vaison-la-Romaine, just northeast of Rasteau lies the village of Roaix, Côtes du Rhône Villages since 1967. Situated at an altitude between 150 and 350 meters above sea level, the vineyards of this community are spread out on two quite different terroirs. While the lowest part takes its power from alluvial, quaternary terraces (a rather common soil type of the southern Rhone valley), the vines growing at the piedmont and the slopes of the Montagne de Ventabren root in rocky sand soils (locally called Safres) and, higher up in red clay.

Now that fermentations are finished, the wines show intense fruit, fine texture and crispy acidity.

Text and pictures by Aaron Nix-Gomez on HogsHeadWine
Domaine Santa Duc produces many wines that I enjoy. This wine is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah sourced from les Aubes and la Ponche in Vacqueyras. The les Aubes parcel has sandy slopes. The le Ponche parcel has lime-chalk soils. It was aged for 18 months in casks on lees.

After 14 months of ripening in tanks and barrels, all the wines from Domaine Santa Duc have been bottled between the 16^th and 20^th of April (with a lunar position favourable to fruit) and are now available in France and abroad: Our prestige wines Hautes Garrigues, Tradition and Grand Grenache from Gigondas, but also our dinner and pleasure wines, that take care of your daily well-being – Les Quatre Terres, Les Vieilles Vignes, Les Plans, as well as the white Les Fournas from Sablet, vintage 2011.

« It’s the appellation’s gold standard, year after year. »
Cahors was almost a ghost wine, trembling on the edge of extinction, as the 1960s dawned. It’s now producing such impressive reds that investors are sniffing the land agents’ books, encouraged by the fact that some of the greatest terroirs in the region are still unplanted.
Prominent among the reference bottles, I suspect, are those of Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaeghe at Château du Cèdre, and those of other properties (such as Haut-Monplaisir and les Croisille) for whom Pascal consults.

If you happen to be at the Plaza Hollywood, Kowloon, Hong Kong these days to do some shopping, you might drop into the lingerie department to purchase... some Santa Duc Vin de Pays from the Rhône Valley. I must say that I am quite familiar now with all sorts of wine & something combinations like chocolate & wine, cheese & wine, music & wine, art & wine. But French lingerie & wine…? That’s new to me, but I guess I appreciate the alliance.
In any way, I will have a drink on all those, who especially dress up to have a glass of Santa Duc wine!