Domaine Deleuze-Rochetin

Baptiste Cartier approaches the cellar as an act of accompaniment rather than transformation. Having begun with the highest-quality raw material possible — fruit grown without synthetic inputs and harvested at a moment chosen with great deliberation each year — the guiding principle in the cave is to disturb as little as possible. Oenological additives are minimised across every phase of the wine's development, and a rigorous, logical process is maintained in their place. Aging proceeds in a combination of stainless steel vats and oak barrels, the choice between them informed by the character of each cuvée and the expression being sought. Blending is treated as a moment of genuine creation: patience and the interplay of the domaine's fourteen grape varieties reveal what Cartier describes as the estate's heritage. The harvest date itself is regarded as a critical winemaking decision — it defines the stylistic register of the finished wine, and the diversity of varieties across the 56 acres means that each vintage demands fresh reflection on timing for every parcel.

Deleuze Rochetin holds organic viticulture as the non-negotiable foundation of its work. All 56 acres carry ECOCERT organic certification, and no synthetic products are used on the vines or in the cellar. Weed management is handled mechanically using a purpose-designed tool calibrated to work within the vine rows, and disease prevention relies solely on copper and sulfur. The domaine's approach demands a daily physical presence in the vineyard and constant attentiveness to climatic conditions, so that interventions are anticipatory rather than reactive and harvests arrive in the healthiest possible state. This discipline in the vineyard is carried directly into the winery: respecting the integrity of the grapes means minimising additives at every stage of vinification. The goal is not merely the absence of synthetic products but a deeper fidelity to place — a conviction that when the fruit is clean and the terroir is allowed to speak without artifice, the wines become true representations of the Uzège landscape. Baptiste Cartier frames this as a responsibility: to communicate, through each bottle, the energy and passion invested daily in the vines.

The roots of Deleuze Rochetin reach back to Roman Uzège, where an ancestor named Arpillus — a contemporary of the construction of the Pont du Gard — is said to have given his name to the village. After passing through the hands of several families across the Middle Ages and into the early nineteenth century, the estate entered the Deleuze family in 1820. Gabrielle, wife of Louis Rochetin, directed the domaine at the turn of the twentieth century, and her name, fused with that of her husband's family, endures in the estate's identity today. The property remained within the family, eventually reaching Charles' aunt and uncle, who continued to work the land. The modern chapter opened in 2006, when Catherine and Jean Michel Cathonnet joined the viticulture circle and began defining the domaine's contemporary direction. Baptiste Cartier followed for the 2013 vintage, accompanied by François Serret, and together they identified the exceptional potential of these piedmont vineyards within the then newly recognised Duché d'Uzès AOC — an appellation that had only received its official designation in July 2012, despite the region's unbroken winemaking history stretching back to the sixth century BC.