Chapoutier is one of the oldest wine producers in the Rhone Valley with a history dating back to 1808. A distant ancestor, Polydor Chapoutier, was the first to buy vines here, shifting from being a simple grape grower to making and trading his own wine. For the last two hundred years, the estate has been producing some of the greatest wines in the Rhone Valley. Today, the range also includes wines from some Roussillon appellations as well as projects in Portugal and Australia.
The Roussillon history is complex and compelling, and has at times been quite violent. Terraces are on stony soil, with a rich geological background and a climate that man has adopted for his crops. Michel Chapoutier decided to locate his domain at Latour de France for its black and brown schist soil to give the wine a solar touch, Gneiss for minerality and freshness, and a combination of limestone and chalk for strength and balance.
Three varieties of grapes grow on the land covered by Domaine de Bila-Haut: Syrah, with its savage aromas of scrub and spice, Grenache, so full of surprises, and Carignan, for mineral wines with crispy tannic notes. The “Vignes de Bila-Haut” and the “Domaine de Bila-Haut Occultum Lapidem” are the main expressions of this terroir. However, Michel Chapoutier wanted to obtain more via this site, to seize the quintessence.