Laughter and People
OUR VISION
Our wines are the result of teamwork at Ogier. They are made by a mix of talents and temperaments. The vine is demanding, engaging and values our sincerity and in turn we must respect its wishes and do everything in our power to give it the very best, to give it what it needs. We benefit from the expertise of Edouard Guérin, Oenologiste Consultant and Technical Director at Clos de l'Oratoire des Papes.
Discover the interview with Edouard Guérin, Oenologist of the House
Interview In vino veritas
Edouard Guérin
Scourer of the vines, wizard of the cellars… our Oenologist!
We trace it in the quest for the expression of the terroirs. A wine is born in the soils and it is from these soils that the vine draws its strength of character and nourishes itself from its substrata. The myriad of soils that we are blessed with here in the Rhône Valley is a true source of inspiration. We also believe that we must trust nature, watch it closely and try to understand it on a daily basis. We humbly respect its fertile strength although we also know that without the hand of man there would be no grapes to make wine with. We therefore limit our interventions in the vineyards, we grass our parcels, we put sheep in the vineyards during winter for them to mow the grass and impart nutrients to the vine. Disbudding and thinning allow us to compensate for imbalances in the vine, somewhat an admission of failure on our part! The balance in every single vine stock is our ultimate objective.
The same can be said for our work in the cellars where we keep interventions to a minimum so as not to conceal the true personality of our wines. We de-stem early but we keep the clusters whole whenever possible. We are an advocate of co-fermentation vinifications for the beautiful synergies it creates between the varietals. The wine gains in harmony, the aromatic integration is more delicate and balanced. We use very little new oak in the ageing process and reserve wood contact for the crus that have the strength required to stand up to the oak. Keeping the oak to a minimum also gives us better control over redox and therefore over the aromatic expression of our wines.
Drink-a-bi-li-ty! A wine should be enjoyed for its spontaneity, with simplicity, but above all for pleasure. We have a cultural vision of wine rather than an intellectual one. Even for the finest crus. That said, in our region we are required to work around certain traps laid out for us by nature and the climate and in order to do so we must be always vigilant and capable of controlling extremes. Over ripeness is simply not an option and we may therefore choose to kick off the harvest earlier, or otherwise much much later! We are very cautious when it comes to extraction which we believe needs to be as delicate as possible. The wines should be encouraged to express their origins yet without any loss of balance or depth.
Both! If we think about our wines then nature is always at the forefront of my mind. We adapt using the wisdom of a farmer. We use responsible methods of viticulture in all of our parcels, we reintroduce somewhat forgotten, ancient and indigenous varietals. We are also developing methods of soil preparation and maintenance without tillage in order to encourage the development of plant and animal biodiversity which contribute to optimal hydric and mineral resources in the vine.
