DOMAINE RICHAUD

Marcel Richaud is a titan of the natural wine world. From an early age, he knew his unsung home of Cairanne could be something special. Dropping out of high school at seventeen to take up viticulture, I’m not sure he ever doubted his abilities despite his parents’ nervousness about their son’s ambition.

He began with his Aunt’s fourteen hectares, followed by fifteen more from his father when he retired. At this point, the fifth-generation estate was farmed using the typical heavy-handed systemic chemical treatments of the era and selling their high-cropped grapes to the co-op. Marcel immediately turned to organic farming and left the co-op, making his own wines the hard way. He was only twenty, but this anarchist spirit has stuck with him for the last fifty vintages.

His first investment was building a proper cellar, somewhere tidy and ergonomic, to start coaxing his wines to life. He then purchased a few additional hectares on soil types he didn’t already have access to, including clay in the famed l’Ebrescade, completing his picture of Cairanne.

Although he has always eschewed pesticides and herbicides, he didn’t pursue certification until 2008. He takes a ‘soil up’ approach, believing that balance (biodiversity, nutrient availability, water holding capacity, etc.) is paramount to the health of his vines and, ultimately, the quality of the finished wines. Any issue in the cellar can be traced back to an issue underground. His other cornerstones of success are old vines and low yields (often less than 25hl/ha).

Marcel’s contributions to Natural Wine go far beyond producing delicious bottles. He helped found the AVN (Association des Vins Naturels) with equivalently instrumental producers like Pierre Overnoy, Marcel Lapierre, and Pierre Breton. Their goal was to share their vision and inspire young vignerons to follow suit, returning to the vineyards more collaboratively. He has also recommended including ingredient lists on bottles – a controversial ideology we also support. He advocated for the elevation of Cairanne from Village to Cru level in the Rhone appellation system and was instrumental in achieving that goal in 2016.

In 2016, his son Thomas returned to the winery, and Claire, his daughter, returned the year after. Knowing this illustrious estate will continue for another generation brings us great joy. Their wines are not only beloved by the natural wine world (Natural Wine by Aaron Ayscough) but are praised by conventional wine media (Jancis Robinson’s Wine Atlas). Like his companions in the AVN, he has transcended style and simply makes wines that speak to everyone.