This store is currently for viewing purposes only. You can visit our physical store to purchase items. If you have any questions, please contact us for more details.
Domaine Salel & Renault Testiare 2024
From the importer Wine Traditions:
Made from 100% raisaine, a rare grape variety native to the Joyeuse–Largentière sector of the Cévennes Ardéchoises. To their knowledge, Élise Renaud and Benoît Salel are the only producers currently making wine from this grape. Prior to 2017, raisaine existed only in an abandoned experimental plot planted by a local cooperative. Élise and Benoît took over the vines that year, and on December 8, 2018, raisaine was officially added to the French register of authorized grape varieties.
True to their “testaire” (stubborn) spirit - “when we believe in something, we go through with it, even if we are alone” - the harvest is done by hand with sorting in the vineyard, followed by vinification in tank and aging on the lees. The result is a thirst-quenching white with fresh, lively aromatics and an invigorating, mineral-driven palate.
Since 2007, Élise Renaud and Benoît Salel have worked as ampelographic archivists, patiently seeking out and replanting ancient grape varieties once grown in the Ardèche Cévennes. In a region where many indigenous varieties had fallen into obscurity, they have revived grapes such as chatus, dureza, raisaine, and picardan, alongside more familiar Rhône varieties. For them, these forgotten grapes are not curiosities - they are the soul and identity of the Cévennes Ardéchoises.
