Les Frères Souliers

History of Domaine Les Frères Soulier

The story of Domaine Les Frères Soulier begins in 2014 with a chosen break. Sons of a winegrower, Charles and Guillaume Soulier Lapierre watched the family estate change hands that year, but refused to turn the page. They bought back the finest plots — the pillars of a viticultural heritage passed down over several generations — and in 2015 founded their own estate in Saint-Hilaire-d'Ozilhan, in the Gard, ten minutes from Avignon. Barely in their thirties at the time, they returned with experience gained in Burgundy and the Languedoc, which led them to break free from dominant oenological concepts and cultivate their own identity.

From the very first 2015 vintage, approximately 10,000 bottles were produced, divided between reds, whites, rosés and a rare hundred or so bottles of Cartagène. The brothers gradually expanded the vineyard by purchasing and planting new plots, eventually forming a single contiguous estate of around twenty hectares. Recognised very early on by natural wine enthusiasts as true rough diamonds, they embody today a new generation of winegrowers from the Gard, alongside talents such as Valentin Vallès and Frédéric Agneray, who are establishing straight, sincere wines deeply rooted in their terroir.

Terroirs and Vineyards of Domaine Les Frères Soulier

The estate today covers around twenty contiguous hectares on the heights of Saint-Hilaire-d'Ozilhan, of which approximately ten hectares are planted with vines, one and a half hectares with olive trees and four hectares of pastures dedicated to the estate's animals. The soils are divided between limestone scree on hillsides exposed to the north and north-west, which bring freshness and tension to the wines, and terroirs of highly siliceous rounded pebbles, which lend them roundness and depth. This geological diversity, rare at this scale, allows the Soulier brothers to produce cuvées with a great variety of expressions.

The grape varieties marry the great Mediterranean cultivars (Grenache, whose oldest vines were planted in 1954, Syrah, Cinsault, Carignan, Counoise) with white varieties such as Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Ugni Blanc and Picardan, an old Rhône variety reintroduced with passion. Viticulture is resolutely alive: agroforestry practices, flocks of sheep, goats and horses that graze and fertilise the vines, horse-drawn ploughing, cover crops to store carbon and nourish the soils. The estate draws inspiration from the principles of Masanobu Fukuoka and places agropastoralism at the heart of its approach, going so far as to have it engraved on its corks.

Winemaking at Domaine Les Frères Soulier

In the cellar, Les Frères Soulier apply what is known as natural winemaking, without any chemical products or oenological inputs. Fermentations are spontaneous, conducted solely by indigenous yeasts, without the addition of cultured yeasts or sugar. No fining, no filtration, and a very restricted use of sulphur — sometimes entirely absent in the flagship cuvées. At bottling, only a small amount of residual gas serves as protection, with complete transparency towards the grape and the drinker.

The brothers have also chosen to embrace oxidation rather than fight it: on many cuvées, topping up is deliberately omitted during barrel ageing, which lends the wines a controlled oxidative character, smoky notes and a singular aromatic complexity. Ageing takes place in barrels of various sizes, for periods ranging from a few months to over a year. The rosés are treated like white wines, in a fluid and taut style, far removed from the traditional conventions of the southern Rhône, and each cuvée deliberately steps outside conventional categories to express its own identity.

The cuvées of Domaine Les Frères Soulier

La Clastre: the estate's signature and flagship cuvée, produced as a rosé or a red depending on the vintage. Always fluid, light and pleasurable, it captivates with its notes of small red fruits, floral touches and a supple, taut palate that makes it an ideal thirst-quenching wine to share. A lively, deeply natural cuvée that perfectly captures the style of Les Frères Soulier.

La Clastre 2043: the cellar-ageing version of La Clastre, designed to evolve over many years in the cellar, with a denser, more complex structure and an extended ageing potential.

Coqueyron Haut: a single-vineyard cuvée sourced from an upper plot of the estate, crafted from southern grape varieties in an expression that is at once fresh, sometimes slightly sparkling, with notes of crushed strawberry and red fruits. A singular wine, a hallmark of the two brothers' distinctive style.

Valmal: a blanc de noir with an avowedly oxidative character, considered by the brothers themselves to be the most faithful reflection of the estate's soul. Smoky notes, controlled audacity, aromatic complexity: an exceptional cuvée with a bold personality.

Blanc Noir: a blanc de noir crafted predominantly from Cinsault, complemented by a touch of Clairette. Brilliant golden colour, expressive nose of redcurrant, white flowers and citrus, a taut and straight palate. An original white wine, a mirror of the Gard terroir worked without dogma.

Botrytis: a surprise cuvée born from a particular vintage, crafted from Carignan harvested late (early October) from grapes covered in noble rot. Fifteen-day maceration as whole clusters, nine months of ageing in barrels without topping up, no filtration or fining, no added sulphites. A wine light in alcohol (10.5 to 12.8% depending on the vintage), with surprising balance, reminiscent of the aromatics of Pinot Noir or Gamay.

L'Oume: a fluid and taut Gard cuvée, produced in small quantities, which illustrates the brothers' ability to move away from the usual fleshy, sun-drenched reds of the southern Rhône and offer lighter, more easily digestible wines.

Counoise: a 100% Counoise blanc de noir, sourced from a forgotten grape variety of the southern Rhône Valley, replanted in 2015 by massal selection from old vines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Direct pressing, six months of ageing in barrels without topping up, no filtration or fining, no added sulphites. A very lively wine, with notes of pear, at only 11° alcohol, available exclusively in magnum.

Costo Dou Rose: a confidential red cuvée that reveals a matter at once sincere and delicate, bearing the hallmarks of the estate: purity, freshness, elegance and a digestible structure.

Ping: the boldest cuvée in the range, a free-spirited wine that expresses the creative side of the two brothers — never confined to a single category, at the crossroads of fruit and living matter.

Prime: a more accessible and refreshing cuvée, conceived as an entry-level wine, designed to offer an immediate gateway into the natural and joyful world of the estate.

Cartagène: a traditional fortified wine from the South, a mistelle made by mutage of grape must with eau-de-vie, produced in very small quantities (approximately a hundred bottles from the very first vintage). A rare and indulgent treat that expresses the brothers' deep attachment to the living traditions of the Gard terroir.

Vendanges Tardives: a rare medium-sweet cuvée, bottled in 50 cl half-bottles, sourced from overripe grapes vinified with the same natural rigour as the dry cuvées. A wine for contemplation, with a sweetness balanced by the freshness typical of the estate's wines.