In 1989 Marine Roussel, Pierre’s daughter, takes over from her father at the estate. After graduating in Art and Graphics, the call of the land was stronger than anything. She comes back to Joncier and gets trained on viticulture and winemaking in order to take over the family estate and perpetuate her father’s work. The vine has always been a part of her. Her intuition drives her since the 90’s to the organic farming practices. Her natural creativity gives her the taste of the work in the winery where she naturally has a very low interventionist approach to elaborate wines that express the greatness of her rolled pebbles terroir. The wines are officially organic certified in 2005.

In 2008, she turns up to biodynamic practices and joins the very small circle of the pioneers of biodynamy in Southern Rhône valley. The wines are officially certified by Demeter in 2010. To Marine, biodynamy is the confluence between the invisible and the living world. This is what will passionate her all along her winemaker’s life.

Marine will be one of the figures behind several groups of biodynamist winemakers in the area where she will notably meet the Alary brothers from Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint Martin in Cairanne.

In 2022, Marine Roussel wants to stop her activity and among the candidates she chooses the Abeille-Fabre family, owners of Château Mont-Redon in Châteauneuf du Pape since 1923 and of Domaine de l’Oratoire Saint Martin since 2020. Our credibility in the biodynamy world acquired by the experience of the takeover of Domaine Oratoire Saint Martin is for her the pledge of a transition loyal to her philosophy.

« My dad was the Yang of the estate, the creative force, the one who created the estate and planted the vineyard. I’ve been the Yin, the one who brought the energy thanks to biodynamy. The Abeille-Fabre family is the Yin and the Yang together in harmony as they are following biodynamic practices while restructuring the vineyard. » Marine Roussel, May 2024.

All the work is done in the vineyard, as we want to obtain the best fruits. We are practicing soft trimming respecting the sap flows, disbudding to control the yields, handmade leaf removal and manual weeding around each vine. A tailor-made work adapted to each vintage. In the winery, we let the grapes and the terroir express themselves in a natural and little interventionist approach. The fermentations are made with indigenous yeasts.

Up to now, we only make one cuvée of Lirac red from the oldest vines of the estate. This wine without artifice is the perfect expression of the balance between the solar intensity of the rolled pebbles of the plateau of Vallongue and the voluptuous smoothness of the infusion we look for into the winery.

A cuvée of Lirac white is about to be produced at Joncier. Roussanne and Clairette were planted in 2023. A little more patience and we’ll be able to make you discover this brand new opus.