Domaine Santa Duc
Benjamin GRAS
Domaine Santa Duc history stretches back to 1874. Over time, the owners have shown their respect and understanding of the land and the domaine has been one of the pioneer of organic farming in the region. Benjamin Gras his now the 6th generation to lead the family estate. After several experiences in prestigious domaines around the world and especially at Domaine de la Romanée Conti and Bodega Vega-Sicilia, Benjamin came back to the domaine in 2017 with fresh ideas. The vineyard is now converted to biodynamic and the range of the wines has been fine tuned to reflect more the local terroirs.
Vines are farmed biodynamically. Soils are not ploughed during winter time and silica is used with precaution in order not to increase the photosynthesis too much.
Grapes are usually 100% destemmed but this might vary. A cold 3 to 4 days pre-fermentation maceration is operated in stainless steel tronconic tanks. Then, fermentation happens slowly on indigenous yeasts and extraction is soft over a short maceration of around 15 days. After pressing, the wines go back in the tanks over winter before being transferred to oak foudres or terra cotta jars in spring where they will age for 18 months. Wines are not filtered or fined.
"The wines are of exceptional quality and balance. The purity of the terroir expression in each of them is stunning"