Domaine du Trapadis

The Domaine du Trapadis winery is a small producer in the Southern Rhône Valley in the countryside near the village of Rasteau, only a few kilometres north-east of the famous Chateauneuf du Pape. Since 1996, Helen Durand, one of the most experienced winemakers in Rasteau according to the guide "La Revue du vin de France", has been running this winery with her artisanal and visionary spirit. It all began historically as far back as 1850, when the Domaine was divided in half between two different entities, which were then united into a single family thanks to the marriage of Helen's grandparents, Henriette and René. René laid the first bricks of the current winery and named it Trapadis, which means "hole" in Provençal, referring to an underground tunnel nearby. It was Helen's merit for having given a new direction to this reality inherited from her parents, having had, at the age of only 16, the foresight to bottle the family wine and market it as such, instead of selling it loose as in the past.

Domaine du Trapadis became Helen's place of experimentation and, after completing her studies in Viticulture and Enology, and some practical experience at Chateau de Beaucastel in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, she moved in permanently. Helen's passion for Burgundy is a tireless source of inspiration for creating wines of great finesse and terroir. She does not just make wine, but has the highest ambition of enhancing the geological qualities of the terroir, offering profound and Mediterranean flavours that are focused on balance and freshness. All this is possible only through hard work in the vineyard, where the principles of organic farming, which is certified Bio Ecocert, have always been embraced and where work is carried out with respect for the plant, for the land and for the wine to be produced. Here the soils are mostly clay and limestone, with a rich blue marl, and the local varieties, Grenache Rouge and Blanc, Mourvedre and Carignan, are grown in the classic southern Rhône style, using the alberello system. The vines are treated with music therapy, as a method to fight the esca disease, while in the cellar a non-interventionist approach is followed, with fermentation without any assistance, in cement tanks on the fine lees, and with no filtration, very little racking and a small amount of sulphur dioxide. Freshness and vivacity, family history and modern artisanship, this is the southern Rhône at Domaine du Trapadis!