The celebrated wine-writer Clive Coates wrote: “It is here, literally dynamited out of the solid, craggy limestone rock, that Eloi Durrbach blasted the surrounding garrigues into submission and planted a vineyard. It is here that one of the great and most individual wines of the
Midi is produced………. If anything comes close, it is Mas de Daumas Gassac, or Auguste Clape’s Cornas, or the Peyraud’s Domaine Tempier in Bandol. Or a mixture of the three. All these are splendid wines in their own right. But they will only hint at what Trévallon has to offer.”
Eloi Durrbach calls it “a magical place.” Outside the
village of
St. Etienne-de-Gres, down a narrow scrub hedge- lined road, you turn into a well manicured country property opening into three tiny valleys of vineyards – 17 hectares. The sharp, jagged crests of the Alpilles form the backdrop for his vineyards, their strange craggy shapes surrounding the disciplined rows of vines. The soil is limestone, dazzlingly white, interspersed with dull, scrub plant life. Eloi acted upon his father’s belief that the site had the potential to produce great wine.
Following the directive of a 19th century agriculture treatise and the success of a Provencal vinegrower, formerly of
Bordeaux, Eloi planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah in 1973 and decided upon a 50/50 assemblage wine. From the 1976 first vintage, Domaine de Trevallon was held in high esteem by top chefs of
France and, yes, Robert Parker.
In 1993, when the INAO (the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine) decreed that there shouldn't be more than 20 % of Cabernet Sauvignon for AOC Baux-de-Provence red wines Trevallon was downgraded to a Bouches-du-Rhône Vin de Pays. Despite this simplest of appellations, Trevallon is one of those rare wines that will sell regardless of what is printed on the label, considered by respected critics to be undoubtedly one of the greatest estates in the whole of
France. Fortunately, the declassification was not a problem outside
France, because, above all, what the consumer wants is a Trevallon wine.
Eloi sums up his work as follows: “My golden rule is to interfere as little as possible with the wine. I proceed in exactly the same way when acting as consultant at other vineyards. I try to improve the wine producers' sensitivity to help them develop their wine-making abilities. So, we don't stick to any specifications but rather follow Nature's lead, upstream, insofar as concerns the vines, and then, in the cellar, we proceed according to the conditions of the year's harvest.”
Durrbach practices biodynamic agriculture and vinification. He uses no pesticides or chemicals in the vineyards, and he keeps yields below 25 hectoliters per hectare. Very short pruning eliminates the need for green harvest. In the winery the grapes are not de-stemmed, and only natural indigenous yeasts are used. The reds are aged in large oak foudres for 2 years, are non-filtered, and are only occasionally fined with egg whites before bottling.
The unique labels are the work of his artist father Rene Durrbach, who made 50 poster drawings before his death in 2002. Each year Eloi selects one that exemplifies the character of the vintage. Pablo Picasso was Eloi’s god-father.