Meet Les Frères Soulier
Charles and Guillaume took over their father’s domain in 2014 and produced their first wines in 2015. They selected the best plots and are now looking after ten hectares mainly red varieties such as Grenache and Syrah.
Their plots are spread out around the village of Saint Hilaire d’Ozilhan with a rich diversity of soil types. Here you can find sand, clay and limestone, as well as red clay and pebbles for the domains best site “Valmal”, an 80-year-old Grenache.
Charles, who studied Viticulture and Enology at the prestigious agronomic school of Montpellier, and Guillaume, his younger brother who has a strong passion for nature (landscaping), are pulling out some amazing work since they took back some vineyard blocks in 2014. They replanted some forgotten old varieties that can match their terroir and bring freshness to their wines such as Picardan, Terret Noir and Counoise, all coming from massale selection. They plough the soil using a horse, and now have now animals that act as weed-killer. In the cellar, the brothers are very meticulous. They use a very old wooden basket press, that helps to preserve the quality of the juice at the extraction time. One particularity of the estate during the winemaking is that the brothers play a lot with the ‘non top up’ technique for their barrels. This is to encourage pre- developed flor in order to enhance the freshness in the wines.
The two brothers want to make wine with a sense of place by employing no additives and removing none of the character, with only sparse addition of SO2 when needed.
