Our New Project!
The following press release went out today and was picked up by…
- Decanter
- Harpers
- The Drinks Business News
- The English Wine Producers News
- TizWine
Domaine Sainte Rose celebrates 10 years in business with a new challenge
British wine producers, Charles and Ruth Simpson, moved to France ten years ago to follow their dream of producing ‘unexpectedly exceptional wine’ in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Over the last decade at the stunning Domaine de Sainte Rose, they have built a thriving business, with customers around the world enjoying an impressive selection of top quality, award-winning wines made from 12 different grape varieties.
The English connection
Not content with resting on their laurels, the Simpsons have decided to take on a new challenge closer to their British roots and have bought 90 acres (35 hectares) of land, south of Canterbury and near the East Kent coast. Their plan is to plant the traditional Champagne varieties, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, on the ideally suited south-facing, free-draining, loamy-chalk soil and ultimately to produce top quality English sparkling wine. The savvy couple are not going into this venture blind and have enlisted the advice of top UK viticultural consultant, Stephen Skelton MW, who has inspected the land and believes it is ideal for the proposed grape varieties.
Domaine Sainte Rose to produce its first sparkling wine
As part of their research for the project, the Simpsons are creating Domaine Sainte Rose’s first ever sparkling wine, a Blanc de Blancs, from 100% Chardonnay grapes grown at the Domaine, which will be ready to launch in July 2013.
“This is an exciting new challenge for us but will in no way detract from our core business here in France,” the Simpsons stress. “We are still totally committed to our work at Domaine Sainte Rose and our main focus, to improve the reputation of the area by producing ‘unexpectedly exceptional’ red, white and rosé wines from the south of France, still remains.“
“We can definitely see potential synergies between the two businesses as the UK is our main export market (both Waitrose and Majestic list Domaine Sainte Rose wines). We are also well positioned to target export customers as we have an established international client base – something that many English wineries currently lack. As planting increases in England and supply begins to exceed demand, English wine producers need to look at developing an export market. We aim to build on our established reputation and to continue to surprise people with compelling projects such as this.”
Social media-savvy
Domaine Sainte Rose is very active on the social media front, with a company blog (www.sainterose.com), a Facebook page and Twitter and YouTube accounts (see below). They are also members of both the Outsiders (www.languedoc-outsiders.com) and ‘Britpack’ (www.britpack.fr) wine producer groups, and take part in events throughout the year.
Awards & Accolades
Domaine Sainte Rose has received many accolades over the years with their most recent wine awards being Silver and Bronze medals in the 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards for Le Marin Blanc 2011 and Le Pinacle Syrah 2009.
Come and meet the Simpsons to taste the Domaine Sainte Rose range and find out more about their English wine project at The Outsiders Tasting from 10am-6pm on Thursday 1st November 2012 at the Maison de la Région Languedoc-Roussillon, 6 Cavendish Square, London, W1. To register for the tasting, contact louisehurren@wanadoo.fr or visit www.languedoc-outsiders.com.
For more information/pictures or to arrange an interview with Ruth or Charles, please get in touch.