Rhône Valley

In the early 1930s, Camille Combier, a native of Vercors, secured three hectares of vines along with a four-hectare apricot orchard just outside the town of Pont de l’Isère, fifteen kilometres upriver from Valence. At the time, apricots were sold to the local cooperative and the grapes to the Tain l’Hermitage cooperative.

In the 1960s, Camille’s son Maurice had developed an allergy to a chemical product used on the farm, which would subsequently guide his future farming life. 

Almost overnight, in the winter of 1969, Maurice took the courageous decision to convert the estate to organic farming. At the time, farmers believed in technical progress, and only a handful believed that the use of herbicides and pesticides was unnecessary to grow crops. 

Maurice was a man who cared for the health of his land, the quality of his fruits, the respect of the environment. Unfortunately, he was often considered a fool by neighbours. Farming wasn’t easy, besides organic farming was in its infancy, but regardless, Maurice the precursor of the organic movement persisted. 

When his son Laurent took over the reins of Domaine Combier in 1990, he was committed to undertaking  his father’s pioneering and avant-garde vision. He had studied arboriculture, viticulture, and oenology, and had also gathered experience in Burgundy, Bandol, and Châteauneuf du Pape. The estate consisted then of five hectares of vines and fifteen hectares of fruit trees.

Like his father, Laurent is a visionary individual and his ambition was to produce Crozes Hermitage wines that would rival with the best in the Rhône Valley. Together with his wife Ghislaine, they undertook the enormous task of building an underground cellar and they equipped it with temperature-regulated stainless steel vats. They added concrete amphora shaped vats in 1999, and two years later, the cellar was extended to make room for more concrete vats. Finally, in 2017, the cellar was again extended in order to allow the vinifications per parcel of vines and to refine the winemaking.

In thirty years, the size of the orchards on the domaine has decreased in favour of vine plantations, resulting today in 30 hectares of vineyards, and 5 hectares of apricot trees. 

In the vineyards, it’s all about balance and precision. Each duty is dictated by nature and adjusted as closely as possible to the character of the soil, the lunar calendar, and the life of the vines.

The pride of the Combier family is their ‘Clos des Grives’, an imposing nine-hectare single vineyard enclosed by a natural hedge of shrubs, and planted with Syrah. The oldest part of the Clos was planted on pebbly soil by their grandfather Camille in 1952, and it includes a 2.5 hectare parcel of Roussanne and Marsanne, producing an exceptional white. The ‘Clos des Grives’ in both red and white are considered the haute-couture wines of the domaine. 

Since 2014, Ghislaine and Laurent’s son Julien has joined the family estate. He grew up in the vineyards and he naturally studied viticulture and oenology.

Then, his brother David also joined the family in 2018 after studying winemaking and business in Beaune, followed by a two-year whirlwind tour, where he gained winemaking experience at illustrious estates such a Vega Sicilia in Spain, Zuccardi in Argentina, and Waterford Estate in New Zealand.

Not only is Laurent a devoted farmer and winemaker, he is also a confirmed aviator and, together with Ghislaine, Julien, and David, they produce wines approachable in their youth, claiming that  ‘A great wine has to be good at the beginning, in the middle, and in the end.’ 

Stylistically, Domaine Combier’s wines are irresistibly fresh and seductive, and although they can be enjoyed early, they have a remarkable ageing potential, especially the outstanding 'Clos des Grives'.


Profile © Françoise and Seán Gilley

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