Domaine du Possible Domaine du Possible: Côtes du Roussillon

Domaine du Possible
Domaine du Possible: Côtes du Roussillon
from Loïc Roure.
Loïc Roure.
Profile
Nestled in the tiny village of Lansac, Loïc Roure is a young vigneron balancing terroir and
drinkability. In 2003, Loïc scrapped his initial plan of opening a restaurant/winebar/retailer, deciding
instead to start his own estate, Domaine du Possible. Starting out with some vines in Latour de
France, he soon expanded with land closer to Lansac. He also recently purchased 4 hectares in
Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes, which produce the Fruit du Hazard cuvée. Loïc now finds himself with 10.5
hectares spread over many parcels and communes (but all falling under the Côtes du Roussillon
A.O.C).
Loïc works and lives in Lansac's old cave cooperative, which he purchased in 2003. The cave had
been abandoned since 1990, so a lot of renovation work had to be done. As well as completely
redesigning the cellar, he's converted the top floor into a large live-in loft and an art studio for his
girlfriend. After 9 years, the work is almost done!
Loïc principally grows Carignan and Grenache, but also has a bit Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache Gris
and Macabeu, all grown organically. The types of soil vary, but are mainly composed of clay and
limestone or schists. The wines are meant to be fresh, bright and easy-to-drink; extraction and
alcohol remain low, instead the focus is on fruit, minerality and acidity. Most of the wines are
initially foot-trodden, then whole clusters are added, resulting in a spontaneous, semi-carbonic
maceration. Charivari is 100% carbonic, while Couma àco is aged in concrete and sees a later
release. Sulfur additions, if any, are decided each vintage, wine by wine. In cases where sulfur is
added, Loïc never uses more than 10mg for the reds and 20mg for the white, and only at bottling.
Interview
This interview with Loïc Roure took place at L'Herbe Rouge in February, 2013.
Tell us about Domaine du Possible.
I created the Domaine du Possible in 2003. I'm located in the oriental Pyrenees, in an area called the
Fenouillèdes. I live and produce wine in Lansac's old cave cooperative, which I share with another
vigneron, Edouard Lafitte. I started with only 2.5 h, then 4.5 h in 2004, then 7 h for many years and
as of last year, I've expanded to 10.5 h.
We have three main types of terroirs: pure schist, gneiss and granite and a little further, clay and
limestone as well as marly schist in the Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes. I grow about 4.5 h of Carignan, 2.6
h of Grenache, 1.3 h of Syrah, a little bit of Mourvedre and for whites I have a majority of Macabeu,
a little Carignan Gris, and a tiny bit of Grenache Blanc and Grenache Gris (this represents about 1h).
What were doing before starting the estate?
All my prior jobs had me sitting in front of a computer. For many years, I worked for Amnesty
International in Lyon. When my contract was up, I decided that I wanted to open a wine bar/bistro;
since I'd never worked in a restaurant, I got myself hired at one, where I worked for a year and a
half. I then took a sommelier course; this involved an internship in Cornas working for a gentleman
named Thierry Allemand.
His passion was incredible. All it took was a few days with him for me to realize that this was what I
wanted to do! This was in 1999, and over the next three years I started working for vignerons all
over France, mostly in the Rhône but also in Alsace and the Loire. I learned a lot, and in 2003 I felt
ready to start my own estate.
How did you end up in the Roussillon?
I originally wanted to settle in the Ardèche, but couldn't find the vines that I wanted. As far as the
Roussillon, I used to come here as a kid and wanted to revisit the area. I quickly realized that there
are great terroirs here, that being close to the mountains and the sea is pretty good living and of
course, there were vines to sell!
Another important step was meeting Cyril Fhal (Domaine Clos du Rouge Gorge) and Jean Louis
Tribouley. They are both great guys and had started their estates a few months prior to my arrival.
They had the same philosophy as I did, so it was very encouraging.
Did you have an idea of how you wanted to work from the beginning?
Yes. I wanted to work normally, which in my mind means not using chemicals. Organics are the bare
minimum if you want to do this sort of thing. In the cellar, I've always wanted to use the least
amount of entrants possible. I was much more militant about this when I started, and was
completely opposed to using sulfur.
But you evolve. I want to make wine, and I want it to be good! So now I use a bit of sulfur if I have to,
but it's pretty rare. Paradoxically, I've become less of an fundamentalist. But I've also gotten better
at using less sulfur!
Repurchasing and renovating an old cave cooperative sounds like a pretty unique endeavor.
What was that like?
Taking over the cave cooperative meant taking over 70 years of winemaking that was not at all in
the style that I wanted to produce. The first major challenge was cleaning it up; it had been
abandoned since 1990 and was black with soot. It was filthy! Wiping the walls down took forever...
When Edouard came into the picture, we started shaping the cellar to our personal tastes and needs.
This was a place designed to produce industrial wine, and it was only in 2009 that we finally started
to feel a natural equilibrium in there. The wines were fermenting on their own, without any issues of
piqûre lactique or piqûre acétique. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's a challenge
re-appropriating a surface like this. It's rather big: 600 square meters with 5 meter ceilings.
Otherwise, it isn't really a cave cooperative anymore, but Edouard and I do share all of our cellar
equipment. It's extremely practical, but what's also great is that we can bounce off of each other's
work and ideas. We taste together, express our concerns and give each other pointers. Edouard is a
really experienced guy.
What's the work in the vines like?
We live in a region where you can't really leave grass in the vines. It's very dry here, and the
competition becomes too much. So we leave a little, but not too much. I work the soils on a
superficial level. We have a lot of Tramontana wind here, and I joke that this is our number one
"treatment" to fight against illness. But we do have occasional oidium issues, particularly with the
Carignan and Macabeu. For this we use contact sulfur. Mildew is very rare here, but copper really
takes care of it. Still, I must have used Bouillie Bordelaise maybe 4 times in 10 years.
I also use some natural plant based preparations. I'm very open minded in experimenting in the
vines, and will try anything if I think it will benefit them. I like the idea of biodynamics, but in no way
claim to partake in it. I don't work in polyculture, I don't have a farm or any animals, and I don't see
the point in ordering cow horns from 400 kilometers away.
And in the cellar?
We harvest by hand, and I quasi-systematically cool down the grapes when the arrive to the cellar.
They spend a night in a cold chamber, and sometimes I lower temperatures down to 4 degrees. It
depends on the grapes and the vintage.
80% of the grapes are vinified whole cluster. I normally perform a semi-carbonic maceration by
putting the grapes in the tanks then foot trotting. I do very little-to-no pigeages, no remontages but
the occasional soutirage.
Many people in your region choose to intentionally declassify their wines to IGT, but you
systematically label yours under the Côtes du Roussillon AOC. Can you elaborate as to why?
The way the AOC works, a panel tastes every wine before bottling. I have been part of these panels
since the very beginning, even as a worker in Ardèche. it's easy to criticize them, but you have to be
part of it to understand how it works.
We are lucky enough here, because there has been a large wave of newly formed estates in our
region over the last 10 years. This has brought a fresh perspective and open-mindedness to the
tasting committees. Furthermore, the fact that a private enterprise now heads these committees (as
opposed to the INAO) has created a broader discourse for wines that have been traditionally judged
"atypical". This means wines that are not yeasted or heavily sulfured.
The big difference between IGT Côtes Catalanes and AOC Côtes du Roussillon is that to produce the
AOC wine, you need to have a certain amount of Syrah planted (20 or 25%, I forgot). It just so
happens that I have that much Syrah, but realistically, claiming my wines are from the Côtes
Catalanes is just not true. I'm 40 kilometers from the sea, in a more mountainous and slopey area.
Altitudes go from 250m to 450m in the matter of a few kilometers, and to top it all off, the Catalans
call us gabachas, which means strangers!
I've participated in many reunions about this, and the region that is designated as Côtes du
Roussillon can really be defined by the region of the Fenouillèdes and the river of Agly. I personally
find it perfectly logical to support this.
When I visited last summer, I could feel a real energy in the Roussillon. It seems like this
new wave of producers have a great sense of camaraderie, and are dedicated to working in
a less interventionist fashion.
This new wave of outsiders, people who came from somewhere else to set up here, really started
from 2000 to 2002. You had Bruno Duchêne, Jean-François Nicq, Alain Castex, Cyril Fhal, Jean Louis
Tribouley, Olivier Pithon... You of course had Gérard Gauby who has had this philosophy from the
beginning. But after this first wave, there was just an explosion of new estates in 2005 and 2006. To
this day, people are still starting new estates here on a regular basis. Just in my sector around
Latour de France, we've gone from 0 h in organic viticulture in 2000 to 185 hectares today!
This is a really nice combination of newer independent vignerons, but also of locals who didn't work
organically but got inspired by the results of their new neighbors. It's great! And now, the the cave
cooperative in Estagel has just shifted 100 of its hectares into organics. People also get along here:
they buy and share vineyard and cellar equipments and have even devised systems where they share
employees so they can work full time amongst many small estates.
We recently organized a tasting in Latour de France with 11 locals and a few of our good friends
from other parts of the Roussillon. 500 people showed up just from word of mouth. There really is a
great, fantastic energy that only continues to grow.
What do you like to drink?
I am a big fan of acidity in wine. I have a hard time with very tannic wines.
Visits
This visit to Domaine du Possible took place
in August, 2015.
Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Jules Dressner and Kevin
Mckenna.
Recognize these distinctive, colorful labels?
Well, if you drive up a certain long, winding road through the mountains of the Roussillon, you just
may find yourself in Jajakistan, the magical land of their provenance.
Don't bother googling it: this fictional territory is actually Domaine du Possible proprietor Loïc
Roure's playful nickname for the tiny village of Lansac.
"My friend came up with the name. Lansac really feels like a tiny, forgotten world. It is also very
barren and dry, which inspired the fictional middle-eastern name."
We'd arrived just a few days after the big music festival Loïc has been organizing for almost a
decade. From looking around his cellar, it becomes evident that art and music are a huge part of his
life:
Notice that the colors on his walls match the labels on his wines?
We began our visit tasting through Loïc's 2014's. At the risk of sounding like a huge schnook, this
feels like his breakthrough vintage to me. Yes, the conditions of 2014 were favorable and overall
have produced excellent wines throughout France. But it's also been over 10 years since Loïc
embarked on this his vinous adventures: the work in the vines and experience in the cellar are really
starting show in the wine.
After our tasting, we drove almost half an hour to vines that border the Corbières appellation.
This vineyard consists of 100+ year old Carignan (actually from 1905!) planted on decomposed
gneiss.
Currently, Loïc works 1.8 hectares here, though he plans to plant an additional 2.5 over the next two
years. He's not sure what grapes he'll want to plant, but believes this land will lend itself well to a
Syrah rosé.
From the old Carignan, we hopped back in the van and drove to the breathtaking vineyard that
produces Coum Acò.
Oh yeah, Jorge was there!
The vines here are all Syrah, extremely shriveled and very low yielding:
Look at how small those bunches are! The soils consist of gorgeous schist:
Directly across from the Coum Acò vineyard, Loïc pointed out another plot planted in Maccabeu,
Grenache Gris and Carignan Noir.
The final parcel we visited was yet another long drive (almost 20 minutes) to see the Grenaches that
produce C'est Pas La Mer a Boire.
This area consists of 1 hectare planted in 1966. The constant winds and surrounding panorama
make this Loïc's favorite parcel to work.
After that, big surprise: we ate a delicious lunch and hung out for a while.
Wines
A.O.C Côtes du Roussillon "Fruit du Hasard"
Soil: marl and schist
Grape: 75 % Carignan, 25% Syrah
Age of Vines: 30
Vinification: a small amount of grapes are placed in vats and foot trodden. More bunches are added
whole cluster, resulting in a semi-carbonic maceration.
A.O.C Côtes du Roussillon "Charivari"
Soil: gneiss
Grape: Carignan
Age of Vines: from multiple parcels ranging from 30 to 106 years old
Vinification: carbonic maceration.
A.O.C Côtes du Roussillon "C'est Pas La Mer a Boire"
Soil: schist
Grape: 70% Grenache, 30% Carignan, 10% Syrah
Age of Vines: 43
Vinification: a small amount of grapes are placed in vats and foot trodden. More bunches are added
whole cluster, resulting in a semi-carbonic maceration.
A.O.C Côtes du Roussillon "Tout Bu Or Not Tout Bu"
Soil: clay and limestone
Grape: Grenache, Mourvèdre
Vinification: a small amount of grapes are placed in vats and foot trodden. More bunches are added
whole cluster, resulting in a semi-carbonic maceration.
A.O.C Côtes du Roussillon "COUMA ACÒ"
Soil: schist
Grape: Syrah
Age of Vines: 40
Vinification: Fermented and aged in old oak barrels.