The Terroir
Domaine Les Pallières lies in the northeast of the municipality of Gigondas, in the French department of Vaucluse. All its plots are in the Gigondas AOP area. The estate was bought as a single piece of land, and is entirely owner-operated. The estate totals 135 hectares. The utilised agricultural land planted with vines covers 25 hectares. The other 110 hectares is woodland.
Most of the estate’s vineyards are arranged in single-row terraces to cope with the very steep slopes. The shallow soil sits on a layer of very compact red clay, and is partly covered by limestone rockslides from the Dentelles de Montmirail massif. The higher you go, the greater the proportion of scree.
This complementary match of soils and scree allows rainwater to seep deeper. This combination also promotes the night-time storage of solar energy, thus prolonging the activity of the plants. The clay-rich soils are typical of Grand Cru terroirs.
