Cairanne is a very pretty walled village beautifully set between the arid plain of the ‘Plan de Dieu’ and the mountains of the Dentelles de Montmirail. It is one the villages of the Côtes du Rhône which has been producing wine for generations, like its neighbours Vacqueyras and Gigondas, and in 1967 was given the Appellation Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne. The wines are known for their power without heaviness, their length and intensity. Romain Roche’s father Marcel had around thirty hectares of vines, and always sold his grapes to the co-operative, of which he was president. Romain wanted to make his own wine and after studying oenology in Beaune, Montpellier and Toulouse, but also with stays in the United States and Australia, has been able to choose fifteen hectares of his father’s vines to rent to start his own domaine in 2009. His signature is for powerful wines, pure, fine and balanced. “Tout passe par la vigne” - Everything goes through the vine - This is the motto of the domain, as they adapt their vinification according to the quality of the grapes harvested. The different terroirs of the domain are adapted to each variety: white clay limestone for Syrah, red clay pebble compounds for the Grenache and Carignan. After manual harvesting and total de-stemming the grapes, the work done during the vinification accentuates all these efforts because each variety, each parcel, is vinified separately in small vats. A daily tasting assesses the evolution of the wine, and a small part of the Syrah is aged in oak to refine the tannins, rather than develop wooded flavours. With a mix of tradtion and modernity, the fruit flavours of the Grenache, the complexity of the Carignan and the finesse of the Syrah, Romain’s wines are a true reflection of Cairanne terroir, powerful and subtle.