Domaine Navarre
Thierry Navarre is the third in a generation of winegrowers in Roquebrun , in the Saint-Chinian appellation area , he started out alongside his father. At the same time he trained at an agricultural school in Pézenas and then in Béziers where he discovered the beginnings of the grape harvester as well as the techniques of conventional agriculture. Fortunately for us, all these practices did not convince him, quite the contrary! His estate covers 12 ha of vines planted on terraces on brown schist terroirs in Roquebrun in the heart of the Haut Languedoc regional natural park . The vines are surrounded by a cirque of small mountains covered with strawberry trees, holm oaks, heather, rockrose, thyme and rosemary… Thierry is passionate, an artisan winegrower . Thanks, among other things, to his meeting with Professor Daniel Domergue , a specialist in the ampelography of Languedoc and its history, who will reinforce his idea of maintaining the diversity of indigenous grape varieties and their importance. On his estate he works with Grenache , Carignan , Cinsault , Syrah , Œillade , Terret , Merlot , Muscat , Clairette , Grenache gris and Ribeyrenc. Ribeyrenc, precisely, an old Languedoc grape variety, forgotten, which he will multiply, and replant on 3 schist hillsides exposed South-East. A real work of conservation that he will also carry out on other grape varieties such as Oeillade ... He will also be passionate about all the cultural practices respectful of the plant, he refuses to use any chemical product, will make and use his own composts and work with his own homemade preparations of plants, infusion and nettle manure. Here all the work is done manually , from plowing to hoeing the soils including of course the harvests. The vinifications are of course natural , without any filtration and without sulfur whenever possible.
