The wines of the Rhone are much sought after for the particular organoleptic properties of the terroir that have made famous the wines of this land and the Domain Dard et Ribç represent one of the most important expressions.
Jean Dard and Francois Ribo founded their estate in Mercurol, near Tain l'Hermiotage in the northern part of the Rhone where Sirah and Voigner reign supreme.
A couple of winemakers who came together in the early 80's with the acquisition of a single hectare of arable land to produce, in 1984, their first vintage of natural wine.
Today, they are the most acclaimed and sought after producers of natural wines in most of the wine bars and wine shops in this region of France and even in Japan, with an extension of their land to 8 hectares scattered between 7 villages fully cultivated in respect of the terroir and tradition of their territory.
All their vineyards are cultivated in Sirah and with the native white grape variety Roussanin managed in biodynamic activities with total exclusion of manipulation and support chemistry preferring the use of copper and sulfur.
The attention continues in the cellar, where after a selected manual harvesting the grapes are destemmed at 90% keeping a part to promote spontaneous fermentation without selected yeasts, with a maceration ranging from 10 to 20 days depending on the year without any control of temprature and without sulfur dioxide.
The natural wines of Dard et Ribo are elegant and deep natural wines, very mineral, which perfectly express the organoleptic qualities of the terroir, which is expertly emphasized by the natural respectful techniques of the two producers.
For the great majority of French winemakers, production in full respect of the organoleptic expression of the terroir is a constant, a philosophy on which the oenological culture of this region is based. Its primary objective is the vinification of products capable of expressing the link with the territory and safeguarding regional differences against the standardization of wines.
