The Provence wine estate owned by CHANEL, presented its 2022 vintage, with water as the signature of a warm and dry year.

Four powerful elements have shaped the island of Porquerolles, a truly wild refuge in Mediterranean waters. Water, land, wind, light: A prodigious quartet behind the unique character of the ros&eacute; and white wines of Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile.

Water is a powerful element with many facets, particularly so on an island. The sea, an expanse of water and life that demarcates this paradise for sailors and winemakers alike. Omnipresent and powerful, it has tempered a warm year marked by drying winds, and subtly spreads its sea spray and salinity across the entire landscape.
Porquerolles, this &laquo;rock&raquo; amid the Mediterranean, is also fed by fresh water. It falls as overnight dew, leaves its mark on the ground during the rare but heavy rains, and waters the hundreds of native plant species that reign supreme here.
Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile&rsquo;s vines, draped across the clay and schist plains of Porquerolles, reap the benefits of this exceptional ecosystem: the vineyards did not suffer from the historic drought in the summer of 2022, gaining balance from the water reserves provided by the island and the sea around it. Water is the signature of this new vintage.
Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile has thus produced a powdery-coloured ros&eacute; brimming with freshness. The wines offer up melon and tropical fruit aromas, supported by sweet notes on the nose. The estate&rsquo;s white wine presents a basket of freshly picked, sun-kissed fruit: citrus and juicy pear mingle with refreshing white peach.

From West to East, Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile&rsquo;s vines grow across the three plains of this paradise by the sea.
On West side, in Br&eacute;gan&ccedil;onnet, the soils are greyish to greenish grey primary schist and quaternary sandstone, interleaved with pale quartzite with a reddish patina.
In the centre of the island, the village plain, clayey sand dating from the quaternary period plays host to schist, sandstone pebbles and quartzite. The vines put down their roots into this initial soft section, where water is not in short supply.
On East side, the Notre-Dame plain alternates between mottled primary schist, very sericite black mica schist, sandstone and quartzite.
Nestled in these plains, rolle, grenache, cinsault, mourv&egrave;dre, syrah and tibouren of the Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile feed on this exceptional ecosystem: in 2022, despite the historic drought, the vines have drawn their balance in these millenary clay and shale terroirs the water reserves offered by the island and the sea that surrounds it.
Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile produces a ros&eacute; with pale pink shades, of great freshness. The wines give off scents of melon and tropical fruits, a nose with sweet notes. White expresses freshness, that of the crystalline Mediterranean Sea, of the morning dew that pearls the island. It evokes the scents of freshly picked fruit under the rays of the sun: citrus, juicy pear and refreshing white peach intermingle.

The climate conducts a fantastic orchestra, with the water as its baton Water &ndash; from the sea or the sky &ndash; is essential and everywhere. It has carved Porquerolles into four river basins, dividing it by flowing to the west or east of a ridge line. Br&eacute;gan&ccedil;onnet, Plaine du Village, Courtade and Notre-Dame are the small units of this island microcosm.
They are shaped by the rain. Water flows from the sky, rises from the ground, escapes from the sea, seeps from the trees, and infiltrates the layers of sloping schist that make up Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile&rsquo;s geology.
In the morning, mist penetrates clothing and moistens shoes and socks. A few times a year it takes on unprecedented proportions, and forms a white scarf that encircles everything: this phenomenon is known as &laquo;sague&raquo;. The dew is created by the difference in temperature between night and day. It appears almost daily and moistens the parts of the vines above the ground.
Like in the tropics, water provides Porquerolles with abundant vegetation and plenty of colour. The risk of fungal disease resulting from excess moisture is not one that winemakers can ignore, but the sun and wind dry the vines quickly and wipe away the excess. Most of the time, it proves to be an asset in combating summer drought, as it provides natural reserves for the vines. Water comes and goes like the shuttle speedboats.
The majority of the rainfall returns to the atmosphere, whether via evaporation or plant transpiration. In the plain region, a small amount streams down back to the sea by forming channels, short-lived brooks known as oueds. Just ten percent soaks into the soils and feeds the water table, which is also in danger of salinisation during very hot periods. However, human ingenuity has found lasting solutions to preserve water resources. Working in constant harmony with the island, the estate&rsquo;s teams maintain balance between all of the human and natural forces that make the island a living space shaped by tension.

The Mediterranean Sea is a place of paradoxes: here amid an infinite mass of salt water, they still need to bring water in daily by boat! However, 600 mm of rain falls each year, primarily between November and March. Spring rainfall is lower, but is sometimes accompanied by powerful thunderstorms. Their torrential rain erodes and depletes the soils. This can also damage plant cover, so winegrowers keep close watch. The sea batters the estate&rsquo;s vineyards with downpours rather than drizzle, and water does not fall so much as drive down! Nevertheless, the estate&rsquo;s terroir with its layers of schist is porous enough to soak up a great part of this fresh water, which penetrates through to the vines. Grenache, Cinsault, Mourv&egrave;dre, Syrah and Tibouren are thus planted in line with the rock&rsquo;s structure and its water-retaining capacity. For example, the Rolle is primarily planted at the top of slopes in the Br&eacute;gan&ccedil;onnet region, where water is rarer, but in proportion, is better maintained by the clay.
It takes huge amounts of attention and patience to understand the complexity of the processes at work on the estate! The soils and terroir are not so different to those on the mainland, but this is an island, and this island nature shines through in every element: dew, salty atmosphere, schist slopes and water are all key characteristics of Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile. The sea gives the wine its unique character.

Humans and the sea have written, and are still writing, the story of Porquerolles island.
Fran&ccedil;ois-Joseph Fournier acquired it in 1912. Having become hugely wealthy following the discovery of Mexico&rsquo;s greatest vein of gold, he gave the island to his beautiful young wife Sylvia as a wedding gift. Under his visionary, protective eye, the island stayed true to its agricultural outlook and enjoyed a revival. His primary concern was water management: how should he manage and divert it?&nbsp; Where was it needed? What should he do with excess rain? And how should he cope with shortages? Fournier quickly decided to build channels on the estate&rsquo;s plots. It was an initial practical response to planting vines on Porquerolles, where water is everywhere.
Porquerolles is an oasis amid the Mediterranean. Vines populate its gentle slopes and are the stuff of village gossip. In 1957, the island was shared between four Fournier women, each with their own area. Three of them gradually sold their portions to the State, which purchased their planting rights. One sister, L&eacute;lia Fournier (named Le Ber my marriage), fought to retain her land. She replanted vines on the Br&eacute;gan&ccedil;onnet plain, and handed the estate down to her son, S&eacute;bastien Le Ber. He carried on the family&rsquo;s work and developed the iconic Porquerolles vineyard of Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile. In 2019, after a life well lived as a winegrower and sailor, S&eacute;bastien Le Ber began a new chapter in the estate&rsquo;s story by entrusting this heritage to Chanel. Finally in 2021, at the initiative of neighbouring winemakers and friends the Perzinsky brothers, Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile incorporated the plots they owned on the lighthouse plain. After thirty years of work, they also stepped down. In a nod to history, this reunited the plots of vines that had been planted a century earlier by Fran&ccedil;ois-Joseph Fournier.

Nicolas Audebert

Pierre Etcheberry

Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile, a Chanel wine estate since 2019, is run by Nicolas Audebert (General Manager of Chateaus Rauzan-S&eacute;gla, Canon and Berliquet and of Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile). Pierre Etcheberry serves as Nicolas&rsquo; second in command on Porquerolles as estate manager.
In 2022, Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile had 40 hectares of viticultural land, 35 hectares of which were in production. Grenache Cinsault, Mourv&egrave;dre, Syrah, Tibouren and Rolle all rub shoulders here.&nbsp;The island&rsquo;s exceptional geology offers 22 different soil types.
The Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile teams make their own olive oil. Five hectares of agricultural land are given over to an olive grove, harvesting Picholine, Cayon and Bouteillan olives.&nbsp;Domaine de l&rsquo;Ile protects and preserves 40 hectares of forest, brimming with botanical treasures.

2022, The Water As The Signature Of A Warm And Dry Vintage

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