A lane of three-hundred-year-old plane trees, a château with white shutters,
the light already golden on pale stone walls. The stage is set. It could not be more Provençal!
Before Raimonds Tomsons rises the Ventoux, a towering landmark at 1,912 meters, and a day of tasting that promises to be as demanding as it is inspiring*. “When you arrive here, you immediately understand why the wines have such freshness”, he says, eyes fixed on the slopes of the mountain, down which an icy breath descends each night. This thermal amplitude—up to 20°C between day and night—is the climatic signature of an appellation as elevated as it is unique. It is the latest-ripening climate in the southern Rhône Valley, and that changes everything.
In the glasses, 49 reds from the Ventoux appellation await Raimonds’ focused tasting at the AOC Ventoux headquarters in Carpentras*. “I have a preference for 2022. The quality is more consistent, and I enjoyed the diversity of expressions. Some wines highlight pure fruit, others display woody complexity, and still others combine fruit, complexity, and concentration. There is real potential”. He writes, classifies, selects. Fifteen cuvées stand out, offering a clear reading of the terroir: three families ranging from luminous fruit to deep, oak-driven profiles.
But the magic of Ventoux is first found in the earth. A true geological mosaic—red clays, bright limestones, yellow sands, iron-rich gravels—that shifts from one kilometer to the next. One soil, one profile, one wine. “The terroir here is alive, in motion, and each plot tells its own story”, notes Alexandre Chaudière, winemaker at Château Pesquié, one of the pioneers of organic and biodynamic viticulture in the appellation.
And then there is nature. Abundant, preserved, exceptional. Two regional nature parks, Mont Ventoux and Luberon, along with a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Truffle oaks share the landscape with cherry trees and olive groves. “This forest, this nature, it’s magnificent!” marvels Raimonds. Here, vitality is not a concept but a way of life. “United to cultivate, share, and protect the summit of life”, proclaim the winegrowers, bound together by a sustainable and committed vision. “We always talk about freshness in the wines, but unless you come here, you can’t truly grasp it. Look at these mountains! Thanks to them, and to our geological mosaic, we are fortunate to have this freshness in our wines”, enthuses Marie Flassayer, Director of the Ventoux AOC Growers’ Syndicate.
In the evening, at Chez Serge—an institution in Carpentras where wine flirts with truffle—the whites take the spotlight. Clairette, Viognier, Roussanne, shaped by limestone and freshness. Raimonds departs with a notebook full of notes and a mind full of landscapes. Ventoux is not just an appellation: it is a breath of air. A promise of altitude, biodiversity, and balance. A land where the art of living is cultivated with the same finesse as the art of wine.
Florence Corbalan
*Discover Raimonds Tomsons’ full tasting notes in our previous issue (No. 187).
