interview

<p><em>This interview with Lo&iuml;c Roure took place at L&#39;Herbe Rouge<glossary title="568">&nbsp;</glossary>in February, 2013.</em></p> <p><strong>Tell us about Domaine du Possible.</strong><br /> <br /> I created the Domaine du Possible&nbsp;in 2003. I&#39;m located in the oriental&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1195">Pyrenees</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> in an area called the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="439">Fenouill&egrave;des</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I live and produce wine in <glossary title="580">Lansac&#39;s</glossary> old&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="252">cave cooperative</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which I share with another&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1089">vigneron</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Edouard Lafitte. I started with only 2.5 <strong><glossary title="523">hectares</glossary></strong>, then 4.5 in 2004, then seven&nbsp;for many years and as of last year, I&#39;ve expanded to 10.5 <strong><span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="523">hectares</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></strong>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We have three main types of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1026">terroirs</glossary><span>:</span></span></span> pure&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="933">schist</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="496">gneiss</glossary> and <glossary title="502">granite</glossary> and a little further, <glossary title="301">clay</glossary> and <glossary title="596">limestone</glossary> as well as <glossary title="632">marly</glossary> <glossary title="933">schist</glossary> in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="250">Caudi&egrave;s-de-Fenouill&egrave;des</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I grow about 4.5 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="237">Carignan</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> 2.6 <strong><glossary title="523">hectares</glossary></strong>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="508">Grenache</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> 1.3&nbsp;of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1001">Syrah</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a little bit of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="692">Mourvedre</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> For whites I have a majority of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="609">Macabeu</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a little&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="237">Carignan Gris</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and a tiny bit of <glossary title="509">Grenache Blanc</glossary> and <glossary title="1158">Grenache Gris</glossary> (this represents about 1<strong>&nbsp;<glossary title="523">hectare</glossary></strong>).<br /> <br /> <strong>What were doing before starting the&nbsp;estate?</strong><br /> <br /> All my prior jobs had me sitting in front of a computer. For many years, I worked for Amnesty International in Lyon. When my contract was up, I decided that I wanted to open a wine bar/bistro.&nbsp;Since I&#39;d never worked in a restaurant, I got myself hired at one, where I worked for a year and a half. I then took a <glossary title="969">sommelier</glossary> course; this involved an internship in <glossary title="339">Cornas</glossary> working for a gentleman named Thierry Allemand.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> His passion was incredible. All it took was a few days with him for me to realize that this was what I wanted to do! This was in 1999, and over the next three years I started working for <glossary title="1089">vignerons</glossary> all over France, mostly in the <glossary title="372">Rh&ocirc;ne</glossary> but also in <glossary title="95">Alsace</glossary> and the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="602">Loire</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I learned a lot, and in 2003 I felt ready to start my own&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="427">estate</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>How did you end up in the&nbsp;Roussillon?</strong><br /> <br /> I originally wanted to settle in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="117">Ard&egrave;che</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but couldn&#39;t find the vines that I wanted. As far as the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="880">Roussillon</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> I used to come here as a kid and wanted to revisit the area. I quickly realized that there are great <glossary title="1026">terroirs</glossary> here, that being close to the mountains and the sea is pretty good living and of course, there were vines to sell!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Another important step was meeting Cyril Fhal o Clos du Rouge Gorge and Jean-Louis Tribouley. They are both great guys and had started their <glossary title="427">estates</glossary> a few months prior to my arrival. They had the same philosophy as I did, so it was very encouraging.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Did you have an idea of how you wanted to work from the beginning?</strong><br /> <br /> Yes. I wanted to work normally, which in my mind means not using&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="279">chemicals</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> <glossary title="746">Organics</glossary> are the bare minimum if you want to do this sort of thing. In the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> I&#39;ve always wanted to use the least amount of entrants possible. I was much more militant about this when I started, and was completely opposed to using&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="993">sulfur</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> But you evolve. I want to make wine, and I want it to be good! So now I use a bit of <glossary title="993">sulfur</glossary> if I have to, but it&#39;s pretty rare. Paradoxically, I&#39;ve become less of a&nbsp;fundamentalist. But I&#39;ve also gotten better at using less&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="993">sulfur</glossary><span>!</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Repurchasing and renovating an old cave cooperative&nbsp;sounds like a pretty unique endeavor. What was that like?</strong><br /> <br /> Taking over the <glossary title="252">cave cooperative</glossary> meant taking over 70 years of winemaking that was not at all in the style that I wanted to produce. The first major challenge was cleaning it up; it had been abandoned since 1990 and was black with soot. It was filthy! Wiping the walls down took forever...<br /> <br /> When Edouard came into the picture, we started shaping the <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> to our personal tastes and needs. This was a place designed to produce&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="540">industrial wine</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and it was only in 2009 that we finally started to feel a natural equilibrium in there. The wines were <glossary title="441">fermenting</glossary> on their own, without any issues of <glossary title="808">piq&ucirc;re lactique</glossary> or&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="807">piq&ucirc;re ac&eacute;tique</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I guess what I&#39;m trying to say is that it&#39;s a challenge re-appropriating a surface like this. It&#39;s rather big: 600 square meters with 5 meter ceilings.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Otherwise, it isn&#39;t really a <glossary title="252">cave cooperative</glossary> anymore, but Edouard and I do share all of our <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> equipment. It&#39;s extremely practical, but what&#39;s also great is that we can bounce off of each other&#39;s work and ideas. We taste together, express our concerns and give each other pointers. Edouard is a really experienced guy.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What&#39;s the work in the vines like?</strong><br /> <br /> We live in a region where you can&#39;t really leave grass in the vines. It&#39;s very dry here, and the competition becomes too much. So we leave a little, but not too much. I work the soils on a superficial level. We have a lot of <glossary title="1040">Tramontana</glossary> wind here, and I joke that this is our number one &quot;<glossary title="328">treatment</glossary>&quot; to fight against illness. But we do have occasional <glossary title="737">oidium</glossary> issues, particularly with the <glossary title="237">Carignan</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="609">Macabeu</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> For this we use contact&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="993">sulfur</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> <glossary title="1137">Mildew</glossary> is very rare here, but <glossary title="333">copper</glossary> really takes care of it. Still, I must have used <glossary title="179">Bouillie Bordelaise</glossary> maybe four&nbsp;times in 10 years.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> I also use some natural plant based preparations. I&#39;m very open minded in experimenting in the vines, and will try anything if I think it will benefit them. I like the idea of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="160">biodynamics</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but in no way claim to partake in it. I don&#39;t work in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="815">polyculture</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> I don&#39;t have a farm or any animals, and I don&#39;t see the point in ordering cow horns from 400 kilometers away.<br /> <br /> <strong>And in the cellar?</strong><br /> <br /> We&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="520">harvest by hand</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and I quasi-systematically cool down the grapes when the arrive to the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> They spend a night in a cold chamber, and sometimes I lower temperatures down to 4 degrees. It depends on the grapes and the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> 80% of the grapes are <glossary title="1104">vinified</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1124">whole-cluster</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I normally perform a <glossary title="942">semi-carbonic maceration</glossary> by putting the grapes in the <glossary title="1140">tanks</glossary> then&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="458">foot treading</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I do very little-to-no&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="795">pigeages</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> no <glossary title="850">remontages</glossary> but the occasional&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="843">soutirage</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>Many people in your region choose to intentionally declassify their wines to&nbsp;IGT or VDF, but you systematically label yours under the C&ocirc;tes du Roussillon AOC. Can you elaborate as to why?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> The way the <glossary title="108">AOC</glossary> works, a panel tastes every wine before&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="185">bottling</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I have been part of these panels since the very beginning, even as a worker in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="117">Ard&egrave;che</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It&#39;s easy to criticize them, but you have to be part of it to understand how it works.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We are lucky enough here, because there has been a large wave of newly formed <glossary title="427">estates</glossary> in our region over the last 10 years. This has brought a fresh perspective and open-mindedness to the tasting committees. Furthermore, the fact that a private enterprise now heads these committees (as opposed to the <glossary title="537">INAO</glossary>) has created a broader discourse for wines that have been traditionally judged &quot;atypical&quot;. This means wines that are not <glossary title="1128">yeasted</glossary> or heavily&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="993">sulfured</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> The big difference between <glossary title="535">IGT</glossary> <glossary title="374">C&ocirc;tes Catalanes&nbsp;</glossary>and <glossary title="108">AOC</glossary> <glossary title="376">C&ocirc;tes du Roussillon</glossary> is that to produce the <glossary title="108">AOC</glossary> wine, you need to have a certain amount of <glossary title="1001">Syrah</glossary> planted (20 or 25%, I forgot). It just so happens that I have that much&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1001">Syrah</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but realistically, claiming my wines are from the&nbsp;<glossary title="374">C&ocirc;tes Catalanes&nbsp;</glossary>is just not true. I&#39;m 40 kilometers from the sea, in a more mountainous and slopey area. Altitudes go from 250m to 450m in the matter of a few kilometers, and to top it all off, the Catalans call us gabachas, which means strangers!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> I&#39;ve participated in many reunions about this, and the region that is designated as <glossary title="376">C&ocirc;tes du Roussillon</glossary> can really be defined by the region of the <glossary title="439">Fenouill&egrave;des</glossary> and the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="76">river of Agly</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I personally find it perfectly logical to support this.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>When I visited last summer, I could feel a real energy in the&nbsp;Roussillon. It seems like this new wave of producers have a great sense of camaraderie, and are dedicated to working in a less interventionist fashion.&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> This new wave of outsiders, people who came from somewhere else to set up here, really started from 2000 to 2002. You had Bruno Duch&ecirc;ne, Jean-Fran&ccedil;ois Nicq, Alain Castex, Cyril Fhal, Jean Louis Tribouley, Olivier Pithon... You of course had G&eacute;rard Gauby who has had this philosophy from the beginning. But after this first wave, there was just an explosion of new <glossary title="427">estates</glossary> in 2005 and 2006. To this day, people are still starting new <glossary title="427">estates</glossary> here on a regular basis. Just in my sector around Latour de France, we&#39;ve gone from zero <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary>&nbsp;in <glossary title="746">organic</glossary> <glossary title="1103">viticulture</glossary> in 2000 to 185 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> today!&nbsp;<br /> <br /> This is a really nice combination of newer independent&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary title="1089">vignerons</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but also of locals who didn&#39;t work <glossary title="746">organically</glossary> but got inspired by the results of their new neighbors. It&#39;s great! And now, the <glossary title="252">cave cooperative</glossary> in <glossary title="426">Estagel</glossary> has just shifted 100 of its <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> into&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="746">organics</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> People also get along here: they buy and share vineyard and <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> equipments and have even devised systems where they share employees so they can work full time amongst many small&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="427">estates</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We recently organized a tasting in <glossary title="583">Latour de France</glossary> with 11 locals and a few of our good friends from other parts of the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="880">Roussillon</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> 500 people showed up just from word of mouth. There really is a great, fantastic energy that only continues to grow.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <strong>What do you like to drink?&nbsp;</strong><br /> <br /> I am a big fan of acidity in wine. I have a hard time with very <glossary title="1010">tannic</glossary> wines.</p>

producers visit

<p><strong><em>This visit to Domaine</em><em>&nbsp;du Possible took place in August, 2015.</em></strong></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//40/3c/403ce9871702ba20f5c60e5d2b23413b.jpg" /></p> <p><em><strong>Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Jules Dressner and Kevin McKenna.&nbsp;</strong></em></p> <p>Recognize these distinctive, colorful <glossary term="Wine Label" title="573">labels</glossary><span class="zalup"><span><span>?</span></span></span><br /> <br /> Well, if you drive up a certain long, winding road through the mountains of the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="880">Roussillon</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you just may find yourself in&nbsp;<em>Jajakistan</em>, the magical land of their provenance.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//73/c6/73c68febfc639eaa2c14e30e670eb91a.jpg" /></p> <p>Don&#39;t bother googling it: this fictional territory is actually Domaine du Possible proprietor Lo&iuml;c Roure&#39;s playful nickname for the tiny village of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="580">Lansac</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <em>&quot;My friend came up with the name. </em><glossary title="580"><em>Lansac</em></glossary><em> really feels like a tiny, forgotten world. It is also very barren and dry, which inspired the fictional middle-eastern name.&quot;</em><br /> <br /> We&#39;d arrived just a few days after the big music festival Lo&iuml;c has been organizing for almost a decade. From looking around his&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it becomes evident that art and music are a huge part of his life:<br /> <br /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//ec/65/ec65d915d31281da5a89f17f197b9008.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//e4/98/e49890ca5c012fa9bc10000436d712d3.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//cb/ec/cbecef47d64c33c73c37355d3e1b106c.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//a3/13/a313858bbc9c279fd909b3f9f393439e.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//41/44/414491602652392c9f286036e370195b.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//19/f6/19f6c271884a1d4fd5a9e89b90a54146.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//1f/7f/1f7f298ebb86bc7317ab65db03d401cc.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//00/db/00dbd75f88b585af23d3ed4619152560.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//8e/f6/8ef6769999bd51b731d1e10f182b4e11.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//69/68/696825f820d6c21f2a0462166c8db8cf.jpg" /></p> <p>Notice that the colors on his walls match the <glossary title="573">labels</glossary> on his wines?&nbsp;<br /> <br /> We began our visit tasting through Lo&iuml;c&#39;s 2014&#39;s. At the risk of sounding like a huge schnook, this feels like his breakthrough <glossary title="1109">vintage</glossary> to me. Yes, the conditions of 2014 were favorable and overall have produced excellent wines throughout France. But it&#39;s also been over 10 years since Lo&iuml;c embarked on&nbsp;his vinous adventures: the work in the vines and experience in the <glossary title="254">cellar</glossary> are really starting show in the wine.<br /> <br /> After our tasting, we drove almost half an hour to vines that border the <glossary title="334">Corbi&egrave;res</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="113">appellation</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//f5/a0/f5a096a0a7ebe91afce323008275cf0b.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//7b/e4/7be4d1746baa46d28feb5fbe70fee8f8.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//29/ba/29baa3d2a68f1c4751e847f6ca92ee8a.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//eb/19/eb19e49a94d5fe5bff2e6bf7fb3b58e7.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//6d/1a/6d1a9b83584e3755a75fb00cf2ee0fdb.jpg" /></p> <p>This vineyard consists of 100+ year old <glossary title="237">Carignan</glossary> (actually from 1905!) planted on decomposed&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="496">gneiss</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//6d/1a/6d1a9b83584e3755a75fb00cf2ee0fdb.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//8d/f9/8df99b3be9c7409e0fe51f25591a64e6.jpg" /></p> <p>Currently, Lo&iuml;c works 1.8 <glossary title="523">hectares</glossary> here, though he plans to plant an additional 2.5 over the next two years. He&#39;s not sure what grapes he&#39;ll want to plant, but believes this land will lend itself well to a <glossary title="1001">Syrah</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="871">ros&eacute;</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;<br /> <br /> From the old&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="237">Carignan</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we hopped back in the van and drove to the breathtaking vineyard that produces &quot;Coum Ac&ograve;&quot;<em>.</em></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//f6/d1/f6d1dccc78d0c8f048ac77360157c864.jpg" /></p> <p>Oh yeah, Jorge was there!</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//9d/47/9d47f1d4e4f3666398652a65e6c2e303.jpg" /></p> <p>The vines here are all&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1001">Syrah</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> extremely shriveled and very low&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1129">yielding</glossary><span>:</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//43/96/439677fc55f084dfd68be562046959a8.jpg" /></p> <p>Look at how small those <glossary title="1138">bunches</glossary> are! The soils consist of gorgeous&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="933">schist</glossary><span>:</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//ff/64/ff6472411130b0b6029fe039014bc21c.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//b3/cb/b3cbf6d307544854d22c5be79cc17e1f.jpg" /></p> <p>Directly across from the &quot;Coum Ac&ograve;&quot;&nbsp;vineyard, Lo&iuml;c pointed out another <glossary title="1133">plot</glossary> planted in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="609">Macabeu</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary title="1158">Grenache Gris</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="237">Carignan Noir</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//6d/29/6d2919784ddedbf1301d3e861e362c97.jpg" /></p> <p>The final <glossary title="760">parcel</glossary> we visited was yet another long drive (almost 20 minutes) to see the <glossary title="508">Grenaches</glossary> that produce &quot;C&#39;est Pas La Mer a Boire&quot;.&nbsp;</p> <p><br /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//77/b8/77b8f7c43c6b287d4422c9040a3951db.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Nov_18//4c/b0/4cb09fb4d79515ee27f2afa7db5ab9b4.jpg" /></p> <p>This area consists of one&nbsp;<glossary title="523">hectare</glossary> planted in 1966. The constant winds and surrounding panorama make this Lo&iuml;c&#39;s favorite <glossary title="760">parcel</glossary> to work.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> After that, big surprise: we ate a delicious lunch and hung out for a while.</p>