The renovated front of the old coop – the entrance to the future hotel
On Thursday morning we had intended to go to the Museum of Pre-History at Bélesta. However, our plans were completely and fortuitously disrupted by us parking opposite Riberach's big new winery and oenotourism hotel project, in which used to be the Cave Cooperative of Bélesta. André and Mecht had given us instructions to find out how the project was coming along so we did as we were told!
There was a considerable buzz of activity around the building. Directed to the office we were soon introduced to Luc Richard, the project's architect and one of the four partners in Riberach. He kindly showed us around and spent a good 90 minutes with us.
Domaine Riberach was set up in 2006 by four partners: Luc, Jean-Michel Mailloles, a producer in Bélesta, Patrick Rodrigues (an oenologue) and Moritz Herzog (an Austrian sommelier). Karin Pühringer, Luc's wife who is also an architect, should probably be a fifth official partner, especially as her family are significant investors in this 4 million euro winery-hotel project. Luc's mother was born in Bélesta and still lives in the village.
Mailloles has 20 hectares of vines, all of whose grapes used to go to the cave coopérative. Grapes from ten hectares continue to go to the Cave Coopérative in Caramany and ten are now the Domaine Riberach. The intention is that the remaining ten will in time cease to supply the Cave-Coop and be part of the Riberach production. "20 hectares will be our maximum size," says Luc, "we don't want to be bigger."
Their first vintage was 2006. Then in 2007 they bought this old winery building of the Cave Cooperative of Bélesta, which had been empty for a number of years following its merger with the coop in Rasiguères. I remember visiting the Cave Coop of Bélesta, when it was still independent in the early 1990s. They had two interesting cuvées – Granite and Schist – to mark the some of the markedly different terroirs within the commune, which also includes limestone although they didn't have a calcaire cuvée.
Work on converting the old building started in 2009. The western end will be the winery, while the hotel occupies the centre and eastern wing. The coop's old massive concrete vats have been retained. In the winery much smaller fibre glass vats (50 hl) have been fitted inside the old ones with others used to store bottled wines. The underground vats are being used to store rainwater. In the hotel the vats have been converted into bedrooms. The kitchens are also installed in the old vats. The coop had an enormous capacity with 80 of these concrete cuves – a reminder of how many vines were once planted up in these hills. Also of how much wine the French used to consume.
The hotel, which is due to open in October, will have 18 rooms – 9 suites and 9 rooms. Every room will have an internet connection through an ethernet cable, while in the restaurant and other public areas there will be WiFi. The concrete walls are too thick to make WiFi in the bedrooms possible.
There will be a restaurant 'La Coopérative' with 50 covers that will be open every day from 1st May through to 31st October. For the rest of the year it will be open five days a week – closed Tuesday and Wednesday. The hotel will be closed for much of January and February. Laurent Lemal is the chef. He has previously worked for Ducasse. The hotel also has conference facilities for 500.
The water for the egged shaped swimming will be purified by natural plants. Heating in the hotel will be by solar panels.
At the end of our visit we tasted the Riberach wines, which were impressive. The range starts with two entry levels wines – a red and a white that both retail at 9€. The 2009 white is attractively crisp and spicy with a saline note in the finish. The blend is 60% Maccabeu, 30 Grenache Blanc and Gris and 10% Carignan Gris. Of the 10 hectares of vines under the Riberach banner 1.5 are planted with white varieties. After the easy drinking red - No7, we moved onto their rather Cartesian range of more serious reds called – Synthèse, Antithèse, Thèse and Hypothèse. The first three retail at 15€, while Hypothèse is 31€. All the reds were from 2007. Of these I particularly liked the 100% Syrah Antithèse with its spicy, black cherry character with a silky texture and good length and freshness. It comes from vines planted on limestone at 450 metres altitude. I also picked out the pure Carignan Hypothèse from vines planted on granite.
I wasn't surprised to learn that the Riberach wines are not imported into the UK, although they are available in a number of other European markets. I assume that the prices are too high and UK retailers find it difficult to get their heads around Thèse etc. Luc Charlier's wines aren't available in the UK either. Increasingly I'm afraid this is a reflection on the current nature of the UK market and not on the quality of the wines.
There was a considerable buzz of activity around the building. Directed to the office we were soon introduced to Luc Richard, the project's architect and one of the four partners in Riberach. He kindly showed us around and spent a good 90 minutes with us.
Luc Richard
Domaine Riberach was set up in 2006 by four partners: Luc, Jean-Michel Mailloles, a producer in Bélesta, Patrick Rodrigues (an oenologue) and Moritz Herzog (an Austrian sommelier). Karin Pühringer, Luc's wife who is also an architect, should probably be a fifth official partner, especially as her family are significant investors in this 4 million euro winery-hotel project. Luc's mother was born in Bélesta and still lives in the village.
A little bit of background and history first.
Mailloles has 20 hectares of vines, all of whose grapes used to go to the cave coopérative. Grapes from ten hectares continue to go to the Cave Coopérative in Caramany and ten are now the Domaine Riberach. The intention is that the remaining ten will in time cease to supply the Cave-Coop and be part of the Riberach production. "20 hectares will be our maximum size," says Luc, "we don't want to be bigger."
Their first vintage was 2006. Then in 2007 they bought this old winery building of the Cave Cooperative of Bélesta, which had been empty for a number of years following its merger with the coop in Rasiguères. I remember visiting the Cave Coop of Bélesta, when it was still independent in the early 1990s. They had two interesting cuvées – Granite and Schist – to mark the some of the markedly different terroirs within the commune, which also includes limestone although they didn't have a calcaire cuvée.
Work on converting the old building started in 2009. The western end will be the winery, while the hotel occupies the centre and eastern wing. The coop's old massive concrete vats have been retained. In the winery much smaller fibre glass vats (50 hl) have been fitted inside the old ones with others used to store bottled wines. The underground vats are being used to store rainwater. In the hotel the vats have been converted into bedrooms. The kitchens are also installed in the old vats. The coop had an enormous capacity with 80 of these concrete cuves – a reminder of how many vines were once planted up in these hills. Also of how much wine the French used to consume.
One of the VAT rooms
The hotel, which is due to open in October, will have 18 rooms – 9 suites and 9 rooms. Every room will have an internet connection through an ethernet cable, while in the restaurant and other public areas there will be WiFi. The concrete walls are too thick to make WiFi in the bedrooms possible.
Decking for outside eating area
There will be a restaurant 'La Coopérative' with 50 covers that will be open every day from 1st May through to 31st October. For the rest of the year it will be open five days a week – closed Tuesday and Wednesday. The hotel will be closed for much of January and February. Laurent Lemal is the chef. He has previously worked for Ducasse. The hotel also has conference facilities for 500.
Future swimming pool
The water for the egged shaped swimming will be purified by natural plants. Heating in the hotel will be by solar panels.
At the end of our visit we tasted the Riberach wines, which were impressive. The range starts with two entry levels wines – a red and a white that both retail at 9€. The 2009 white is attractively crisp and spicy with a saline note in the finish. The blend is 60% Maccabeu, 30 Grenache Blanc and Gris and 10% Carignan Gris. Of the 10 hectares of vines under the Riberach banner 1.5 are planted with white varieties. After the easy drinking red - No7, we moved onto their rather Cartesian range of more serious reds called – Synthèse, Antithèse, Thèse and Hypothèse. The first three retail at 15€, while Hypothèse is 31€. All the reds were from 2007. Of these I particularly liked the 100% Syrah Antithèse with its spicy, black cherry character with a silky texture and good length and freshness. It comes from vines planted on limestone at 450 metres altitude. I also picked out the pure Carignan Hypothèse from vines planted on granite.
I wasn't surprised to learn that the Riberach wines are not imported into the UK, although they are available in a number of other European markets. I assume that the prices are too high and UK retailers find it difficult to get their heads around Thèse etc. Luc Charlier's wines aren't available in the UK either. Increasingly I'm afraid this is a reflection on the current nature of the UK market and not on the quality of the wines.