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Historic AOC Die - J-C. Raspail - Domaine de la Mûre - 26340 Saillans

A.O.C (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée - French Quality Wines)

CLAIRETTE DE DIE TRADITION is an original wine which has been known since ancient time. Pliny The Elder's Natural History in 77 A.D. already praised the natural sparkling and the flavour of the Voconces (ancient inhabitants of Die). This wine was formerly known as Aigleucos, and it is said that the Voconces immersed the containers of wine in the mountain streams at the start of the fermentation, in order to keep it sparkling longer. This is in fact the basic principle of the method used in Die to this day !   Other texts, notably in the 14th century, testify that the Clairette de Die production area was very quickly protected by regulations forbidding the importation of wines from outside the district. There are also many anecdotes testifying to this wine's natural sparkling qualities.   The development of Clairette de Die dates essentially from the 18th century with the creation of a large number of cellars. Clairette de Die was the typical wine drunk in the Diois, Dévoluy and Trièves mountains. It should be noted that the word "clairette" comes from "Clairet" or "claret" wine. Shortly before the last war, some Clairette de Die was still being drunk as a coarse "vin bourru" drawn from the barrel in the cafés of Lyons and Grenoble.

In the past the INAO (French National Institute for A.O.C) has been very quick to recognize the merits of Clairette de Die, which already featured in the list of future appellations in 1910 and received the appellation contrôlée designation in 1942. A new amended decree was issued in 1971, adding details concerning the ancestral Dioise method, known in the pasts as the Rural Method.

CREMANT DE DIE vinified from the small grape Clairette, Aligoté and Muscat is made according to the Traditional Method (formerly known as Méthode Champenoise). Coming in 1993 in the prestigious family of the Crémants, this is the only one in the range of the famous wines of the Vallée du Rhône.

The word Crémant marks out the up-market sparkling wines regulated by very strict Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée rules defined by decree.

COTEAUX  DE DIE , still white wine vinified from the grape Clairette obtained the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in 1993.

THE VINEYARD

The vineyard comprises 1 300 hectares of appellations contrôlée Clairette de Die vines with an altitude from 200 m to 700 m and is divided in small sunny and stony parcels located on both sides of the Drôme Valley.

THE GRAPE VARIETIES

The grape varieties are small grape white Muscat (rounded and very tight golden berries), the small grape Clairette (not very tight grapes with oblong berries) and Aligoté grape.