Domaine de la Patience
After eleven years as a cooperative winery manager, Christophe Aguilar set up his own business in 1994, on around fifteen hectares. In 1999, he bought a new estate and its winery, which he would profoundly transform while renovating the vineyard. A long and patient work that led him to convert to organic farming. A three-year process, completed in 2008: “If I went organic, it was first and foremost to stop poisoning myself.”
The obvious: organic farming
On the “very beautiful terroirs of Costières de Nîmes”, Christophe Aguilar cultivates Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache and Carignan for his red and rosé wines, as well as Grenache Blanc and Vermentino for the whites, which will expand the range of his wines from 2021. Convinced of the benefits of organic farming, Christophe Aguilar materializes his respect for the terroir and the ecosystem through winemaking that limits the use of sulfites and preserves endogenous yeasts. Six years ago, this work gave birth to his sulfite-free cuvée in AOP Costières de Nîmes, Les Nouvelles, a blend of Grenache and Carignan, which he reiterates vintage after vintage, in a constant search for repeating quality.
A perpetual search
At Domaine de la Patience, organic farming is at the heart of practices. For Christophe Aguilar, “organic farming must become the trademark of southern wines, their standard-bearer”, especially since in Costières de Nîmes, “the terroir is well suited to it”. A path on which the AOC is already well engaged, with 25% of the vineyard already managed organically. An economic reality and personal convictions that lead him towards biodynamics. A new evidence, a logical continuation of things that has been running through a corner of his mind for some time now. This desire to transform his cultivation practices, “step by step, through experiments on certain plots”.
A tribute vintage as a favorite
When we ask Christophe Aguilar to give us his favorite vintage among the wines he produces, we learn more about Domaine de la Patience and its history. The Sébastien vintage, gold medalist at the Millésime Bio 2020 competition, is named in homage to his grandfather, a farm worker on the estate that Christophe bought in 1999. This vintage, in AOP Costières de Nîmes, is a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. Produced using carbonic maceration, a technique that is “as natural as possible”, the Sébastien vintage sums up Domaine de la Patience well: a concentrate of fruit, history and convictions.