Domaine du Meteore

Thanks Jeremy, Nick, Jonathan

We were delighted to host Nick Lander and his wife for dinner in our 'pop-up' restaurant in the Domaine

It is a very special experience even if I say so myself! Nico is a very talented Chef and I would say his food is at Michelin 2 star standard, allowing for the constraints of the setting. The setting, eating under the stars in a vineyard/meteore crater, is beautiful though and it makes it all the more memorable

It's also tremendous value considering it's a 4 hour dining experience with multiple superb courses and paired wines all for 50 Euros including the wine. We make no profit on it, but it's good to get people to visit and experience the place to get it on the map as it were

Anyway the article came out just in time for the France quarantine!

Paul
 
Inevitably it's both Jeremy....

it's an amazing place, already producing very good wine, with the potential to produce exceptional wine

French bureaucracy lives up to it's reputation of course

The financial strain of trying to keep it afloat during a difficult year for sales has been not inconsiderable

We have had very good reviews of the wines including our new rosé cuvée called Le Meteore and that has been very gratifying, as has creating the pop-up restaurant in the crater and getting the recognition we think this deserves

We have learnt a lot over the last two years

The difficulties have been mostly rather predictable in retrospect
 
Ah yes, to make a small fortune in wine start with a large one.

I've just seen that you're selling Le Meteore pink in sixpacks direct from France to UK - very convenient!
 
I had no idea this domaine was owned by a forumite. I was first introduced to the wines by Stone Vine back in 2003/4 and I’ve been buying ever since. I knew the domaine was sold relatively recently but no idea before now as to the ownership. I had some new vintage Leonides delivered a few weeks ago and it’s probably time I opened one up.
 
Ullaim, I have held back from posting much about it on these pages, not wanting to be thought to be promoting it. But I'm delighted to hear you are a longstanding customer! I would be very interested to know what you think of the Leonides. It has a rather special note of raspberry on the nose I think, which is apparently a thiol molecule that some Syrah grapes can develop. We are rather proud of the Leonides and feel it's excellent values and was also picked out as such in the Revue du Vin de France. Matthew Jukes reviewed it in the Daily Mail thus:

“This is a very dramatic wine made from organic Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault vines which are situated in a 200-metre-wide meteorite crater, high in the Languedoc mountains! With spicy, meaty, liquorice and wild herb notes underpinning a luxurious black fruit core this is a devastating wintry red wine.”

Jeremy, yes the rosé can be ordered direct from the website in 6 packs and happens to be on a 6 bottles for the price of 4 deal right now! In essence that's pretty close to the cost price to us. We just want to be able to get it out there so that people can taste it as a way of gradually building up a customer following. That's the theory anyway!

It turns out you can make good wine but selling it is less easy than making it!
 
Paul jarman said:
Ullaim, I have held back from posting much about it on these pages, not wanting to be thought to be promoting it. But I'm delighted to hear you are a longstanding customer! I would be very interested to know what you think of the Leonides. It has a rather special note of raspberry on the nose I think, which is apparently a thiol molecule that some Syrah grapes can develop. We are rather proud of the Leonides and feel it's excellent values and was also picked out as such in the Revue du Vin de France. Matthew Jukes reviewed it in the Daily Mail thus:

“This is a very dramatic wine made from organic Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault vines which are situated in a 200-metre-wide meteorite crater, high in the Languedoc mountains! With spicy, meaty, liquorice and wild herb notes underpinning a luxurious black fruit core this is a devastating wintry red wine.”

Jeremy, yes the rosé can be ordered direct from the website in 6 packs and happens to be on a 6 bottles for the price of 4 deal right now! In essence that's pretty close to the cost price to us. We just want to be able to get it out there so that people can taste it as a way of gradually building up a customer following. That's the theory anyway!

It turns out you can make good wine but selling it is less easy than making it!
Click to expand...
I've sent a link to your rosé to a few pinkos who will I imagine buy.
 
Interesting I have had my social media ads taken over by Meteor, very fond of the area after a long holiday in Roquebrun which must have been at least 14 years ago (now being mere days away from having a teenager and this being one of our last pre child holidays it has rather a romance to it). Inteigued by the Syrah from the crater of course which is also appears to be completely surrounded by trees.. on the other hand I would trust Simon Taylor's palate in these matters over most people's.
 
Hi Tim

Roquebrun is indeed a very special place sitting nestled above the river Orb with amazing views. As you can see from the photo above the crater area is relatively small and the issue is not so much the sun which is fine, it's more that the soil is almost too rich. Most of our vines are planted around the crater and the Syrah plot within the crater is very small. It's the schist rock and the altitude that add so much to the terroir rather than the crater itself. Although we have wondered if the rare elements ('space dust') from the meteorite itself might be adding a little something!
 
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