Walls’ hidden gems: Domaine de Piéblanc

Domaine JL Chave has been handed down from father to son since 1481. Domaine Alary, in Cairanne, isn’t quite so old – its family of owners has been tending vines since 1692. Domaine de Piéblanc was founded rather more recently: this domaine has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

‘It’s not a domaine I took over, it’s one I created,’ says the domaine’s owner, Matthieu Ponson. He says there are two reasons for his success. Firstly, ‘I’m not from here,’ he says. And secondly, when he started making wine, ‘I wasn’t a vigneron.’

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Domaine de Piéblanc

Ponson might be a newcomer but he is already making impressive wines across several southern Rhône appellations, despite the fact that – or perhaps because – he’s an outsider.

Not that Ponson was born thousands of miles away – he grew up in Cornas in the northern Rhône. He went to school with Franck Balthazar and is friends with Thierry Allemand, two highly regarded Rhône winemakers. Ponson’s family weren’t winemakers however, so his path to winemaking wasn’t so direct.

Ponson’s path

After his studies, Ponson moved to Lyon and became an engineer – and a successful one. He worked for 15 years in telecoms, and eventually founded his own company. ‘But my passion was always wine,’ he says. He sold the company in 2014.

By this time, he had already dipped his toe into wine. Along with his brother Thomas (owner of Restaurant Thomas in Lyon, which, according to Ponson, has ‘the best Cornas list you’ll ever find’), he is one of the investors behind Cornas vigneron Vincent Paris’ purchase of La Geynale.

By the time he was ready to establish his own estate, the price of land in Cornas had become prohibitive. So he looked south.

Now to us wine lovers in London, New York – anywhere else outside the Rhône – the distance between Cornas and Ponson’s winery in Gigondas might seem negligible; it’s less than 100km. But let me tell you a story.

I once asked a winemaker in Valréas how she thought her wines compared to the neighbouring appellation of Vinsobres. She replied ‘Oh, I wouldn’t know. I’ve never tasted a Vinsobres.’

To some southern Rhône vignerons, Cornas might as well be the Moon.

The obvious place for a newcomer to consider in the southern Rhône might be Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but Ponson wanted to work with fresher terroirs – so he focused on vineyards in and around the Dentelles de Montmirail.

He started with 10ha of Ventoux near the village of Caromb, surrounded by pines and olive trees. After that, he acquired a 15ha parcel of Grenache and Syrah in the appellation of Beaumes de Venise, high up in Suzette, between 350m and 400m.

Finally, he purchased 6ha of Gigondas. With a background in large building projects, he felt well equipped to create ‘the cellar of his dreams,’ he says.

The dream winery

The juice is fed by gravity, and use of wood is limited – he favours stainless steel for fermenting, concrete and amphorae for ageing. Being new to the region and to winemaking, he had a clean slate.

‘We’re not stuck in a particular method,’ he says.

Inside, it’s an attractive, airy, functional space. It’s a handsome building on the outside too; not overtly modern, but it certainly stands out in the region – for its sheer newness if nothing else.

But not everyone agrees. Ponson says that some locals feel the structure is too contemporary, and they don’t appreciate ‘this foreigner buying vines here’.

He feels it would be the same in any agricultural setting however, not just in the southern Rhône. ‘It doesn’t bother me,’ he says, ‘sometimes it’s just jealousy.’

And not everyone has been unfriendly. Domaine Santa Duc is another estate with modern buildings, and Ponson says that owner Yves Gras has been welcoming.

‘He always opened his door to me and offered advice,’ says Ponson.

In comparison with Cornas, the residents of Gigondas have ‘a much stronger accent, they speak with more hand gestures… Like Yves, they are always joking,’ says Ponson.

In Cornas, people are ‘nice – but more reserved, less exuberant,’ he says. He adds that there’s even a discernible difference between the people of Gigondas and Vacqueyras next door.

Doing things differently

Perhaps it’s Ponson’s outsider status that makes him more open to experimentation. Having recently attained organic certification, he’s now looking to biodynamics. He’s also making trials with whole-bunch fermentation, carbonic maceration, and other techniques that aren’t so traditional here.

The resulting wines feel as contemporary as his new winery. His limpid reds are candid reflections of place, and strike a balance between volume and drinkability. They’re not overly extracted, leaving some space for the wine to relax and open up – Mediterranean wines of finesse and detail.

One thing I’ve noticed with outsider winemakers is that they’re often driven and impatient; they have something to prove. In just 10 years, Piéblanc has already made a strong case.

Six Domaine de Piéblanc wines to try:

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