From our importer: The first time you set your eyes on the hills of Côte Rôtie, it is impossible not be overwhelmed with their beauty. The cliff-like granite hillsides seem to have burst from the Earth with vigor and violence. Only the truly dedicated would decide to make their living there. No tractor on Earth can plow these vineyards – everything has to be painstakingly done by hand. This is the place that Domaine Clusel-Roch calls home.

Based in Verenay, the northernmost village in Côte Rôtie, this tiny 3.5 hectare domaine is run by Guillaume Clusel, who recently took the reins from his loving parents, Gilbert & Brigit after their retirement. His great-grandfather planted the foundation of the winery in 1935, the vineyard now known as ‘Les Grandes-Places’, using a low yielding clone of Syrah called Serine. All subsequent plantings have been selection massale from that vineyard, a rarity in the region as higher yielding material became more prevalent. The Clusel family was also early believers in the advantages of organic farming, and would become pioneers of the movement within the region as they converted fully in 1990.

Clusel Roch became one of the first growers in the region to bottle their own wine, which took place for the first time in 1969. As Rene Clusel began managing a small parcel in Les Grandes Places lieu-dit, where the oldest vines were planted in the late 1930’s by his father Baptiste Clusel. However in 1989, Clusel-Roch was officially born, named after its owners, Gilbert Clusel and Brigitte Roch who inherited a small parcel in 1987. They began a program of massale selection in 1991. Their son, Guillaume Clusel joined the estate in 2009 after completing his studies and officially took the reins in 2021 after his parents retirement and in 2022 he partnered with Gaëlle Bonnefond, a childhood friend who started at the domaine in 2017.

The estate has been certified organic since 2002. Certified organic by ECOCERT; use of composted manure. The vines planted come from massale selections. Cultivation of the vines is carried out as naturally as possible. Harvest and sorting is done by hand.The half hectare of Condrieu comes from the hillsides of Chery and the Côtes-Rôties from localities like Plomb, Chapon and Viallières.

All the vineyards are in the north of the appellation, mainly around the places known as Viallière, Champon, Le Plomb, Montmain, Verenay and Grandes Places. The soil contains ferrous mica schists and the orientation is South-East. La Grandes-Places was planted in the nineteen thirties, then a part of Viallière and Champon in the nineteen sixties and the rest after 1980. The majority of our vines are planted with Syrah “selections massales” from the Grandes Places vineyard.

Over 95% Syrah from selection massale and around 5% Viognier that is co-planted. The average vine age is 20 years old from a 3.5 ha in the lieu-dits of “Viallière”, “Champon”, and “le Plomb.” The soils are ferrous mica schist. Viticulture & Vinification: Certified organic—harvest and sorting is done by hand. Grapes are put into tank by gravity, partially de-stemmed, and fermented with their indigenous yeasts. The wine is aged for 2 years in oak barrels (15% new) with no filtration before bottling.

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