Domaine Raymond Usseglio
In the vineyard
In the vineyard
The estate has 18 hectares of vineyards in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, with 15 hectares dedicated to red varieties and three hectares to white. They also have five hectares of vineyards classified as Côtes du Rhône.
The estate is fortunate to have vines planted throughout the varied terroirs of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The sandier soils create wines of greater finesse. The vines planted on the clay marl soils with galet roulés produce the most powerful, hedonic styles of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Stéphane likes to blend the two together to increase complexity in the wines.
In the winery
In the winery
Stéphane likes to ferment most of his wines in concrete tank, as he believes this produces the purist expression of fruit.
Historically the estate matured the wines in large oak vats, but the wines suffered from brettanomyces contamination and the vats have have since been replaced.
Ussegglio uses oak for maturing his white Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the La Part des Anges cuvée, both large Austrian Stockinger barrels and top-quality French barriques.
Les Apotres is made with selected grapes, de-stemmed by hand, before the fruit is macerated on its skins for a long time in amphorae. Production of this cuvée remains miniscule.