Domaine des Nymphes : Producer of AOC Rasteau, Vin Doux Naturel, Côtes du Rhône Villages

Rasteau, land of Natural Sweet Wines 

Rasteau, the land of Natural Sweet Wines (soon to celebrate their 80th anniversary), is a small commune in the Vaucluse, very close to Vaison - la - Romaine, which covers 900 hectares, and which has many estates. Clinging to the side of the Baronnies massif, and facing the Dentelles de Montmirail, Rasteau benefits from a typical climate of the region: a hot and dry summer, and a mild winter, with mainly clay-limestone soils.  Among these domains, there is the Domaine des Nymphes, a family domain.

Domaine des Nymphes, the story of a dream come true

At the end of the 1970s, Gilbert Meyer had a dream: to stop working at the Rasteau cooperative cellar to found his own wine estate. In 1979, he joined forces with his son-in-law and the dream became a reality: he bought new vines and began work on the construction of the winery. This family creation, between father, son, daughter and son-in-law, consists of thirty three hectares and a cellar where everything is done, from the conception of the wine to the sale and tasting.

This cellar was built at La Quérade, a property on which was found, in 1850, an altar to the Nymphs from the Roman period, which can be seen today at the Calvet Museum in Avignon. It is in memory of this vestige that the Meyer-Marc family decided to name their creation: "le Domaine des Nymphes". The Nymphs are a feminine Greek divinity of the woods, forests and mountains, often associated with Bacchus, the god of wine. They are the talk of the town in the press with headlines such as "the Nymphs have thighs", or "the sanctuary of Bacchus". It is thus around mythology that the brand image of the domain was built: the Nymph looking like Marianne on the label, as well as the names of the cuvées referring to the main Nymphs.

2019, a new turning point for the Domaine des Nymphes

In 2019, Eric Petitjean bought the cellar, as well as seven of the thirty three hectares. It is now Christophe Didier, in charge of the cellar and the vineyard, who conceives and elaborates the wines of Domaine des Nymphes. A new start has been made for the Nymphes, with a desire to revive the estate, notably with a new conception of the wines, a new way of thinking about them, of working them, rather in finesse and elegance, thus giving them a new impetus. The brand was also purified, both in the number of vintages and in the design of the labels: white or black, with the simple representation of two curves symbolizing a woman's body.

Today, the Domaine des Nymphes is one of the smallest estates in Rasteau, with seven hectares, four of which are in AOC Rasteau, and three in AOC Côtes du Rhône Villages. Currently in organic conversion, the estate will produce organic wines from the 2022 harvest.