Domaine Monier

Starting with the 2008 vintage, Jean-Pierre Monier entered into a working relationship with Philippe Perréol to combine their resources in order to meet the increasing market demand. Perréol works his vines just like Monier. They currently have three labels, depending on vineyard origin and legal reporting requirements: Domaine Monier, Domaine Perréol, and Domaine Monier-Perréol.

Jean-Pierre Monier is as happy and as grateful a vigneron as one finds. His small production wines certainly have not made him wealthy (far from it), but his effortless calm, natural sensitivity, and quiet conviction give him an enviable air of simplicity. He is the third generation of his family to be farming in Brunieux, a lieu-dit in the hills above the village of St-Désirat in the Northern Rhône appellation of Saint Joseph. Like his forefa...

With only five hectares of land to farm, all on gentle, higher altitude slopes, one might question the interest in working by such stringent standards. For a joyful artisan like Jean-Pierre, purity and authenticity are paramount, and his viticultural methodology is merely the most genuine manifestation of these ideals.

Whites:

• Grapes are pressed, then fermented in cement, egg-shaped cuves

• Wines undergo malolactic fermentation

• Wines are racked into 1-3 year-old barrels

• Wines age anywhere from 4 months to 1 year, depending on the vintage

Reds:

• Grapes are 100% de-stemmed
• All reds ferment in temperature-controlled cement cuves

• Daily pumpovers and punchdowns

• Wines age for 1 year in tonneaux (except for the Saint Josep...

Monsieur Monier likes farming. He lives in humble splendor way up in the hills above the Rhône River surrounded by cherry, apricot, and peach orchards, grapevines he farms biodynamically, birdies singing, and bees a-buzzin’. He is living the life of a 19th-century vigneron. Monier told me that he had it figured out: he makes about three dollars an hour in his little winery. “But I’m so happy,” he said.