Domaine de Durban


— About —

THE VINEYARD

The family manages all their vineyards and are certified with “HVE” or “high environmental value” in English. This is awarded to winegrowers who choose to take a “reasoned” approach to their work, from wine cultivation to bottling.
All harvesting is done by hand followed by further sorting and destemming.

The soils are composed of 60% of clay-limestone and 40% of Triassic rock. The Triassic Earth is a particular soil found in this region, dating before the Jurassic period. Normally the Triassic rock in this area would be buried some 1500m underground, but as the Dentelles de Montmirail mountain range emerged, they brought the Triassic deposits to the surface. It is rich in magnesia, calcium carbonate and iron and yellow in colour.
According to Henri Leydier, this particular soil type brings out the fruit character in the grapes.

The vineyards are in south-east exposure to ensure reliable ripening, sheltered from the strong Mistral wind by the Dentelles de Montmirail mountains. The Domaine de Durban vineyards benefit from drying winds in the evenings whereas the days are less hot and the nights balmy. This leads to less disease pressure at the vineyards.

All their vineyards are 50 years old in average age and grow in altitude of 150m. The Muscat grapes are hand harvested and the yields limited, in average 22hl per hectare (the maximum being 30hl/ha per AOC rules) and the red grapes at 38hl per hectare.