Xavier Vignon

A dream journey

A model student, Xavier Vignon was the pride of his parents, who let him freely choose his path and live out his passions. Initially focusing on pharmaceutical studies, his meeting with an oenologist proved to be the turning point: he enrolled in a preparatory oenology course.

He went on to train in oenology and agronomy in Montpellier, and then began his tour of France's vineyards, taking in Alsace, Bordeaux, Champagne and more. He then flew to Australia, where his many travels nurtured his winegrowing experience.

In 1996, Xavier Vignon began working as a consultant oenologist for a consulting laboratory in Vaucluse.

In 1998, he joined forces with his friend Dominique Portet to create Povidis, a wine consulting company. It wasn't long before a hundred wineries were calling on his services.

The partnership with Dominique Portet ended 1 year later. Xavier decided to create his first cuvées by hand for his friends, and quickly got into the blending game.

As fate would have it, one day a well-intentioned winemaker secretly sent his samples to the Guide Hachette. The result: a "coup de cœur" wine, and the other cuvées are awarded several stars.

In 2003, the Institut Œnologique de Champagne bought a laboratory in Sorgues and offered him the position of director, which he accepted. He stepped down in 2012 to devote more time to his wines, but remains a consultant.

Xavier Vignon's vineyard

On his estate, Xavier Vignon has surrounded himself with a young team with atypical but complementary profiles.

Rigorously selective, a meticulous worker, he is particularly attentive to the conception and blending of his wines.

The diversity of his terroirs and the small size of his vineyard enable him to focus on the nobility of the fruit and the potential of the land.

His inexhaustible knowledge of the terroirs of the Rhône Valley, his experiences overseas and his winemaking friendships have forged his identity.

He elaborates his blends to create different wines, each with its own personality as well as a common signature.

The wines of Xavier Vignon

La cuvée Anonyme reflects all the terroirs of Châteauneuf du Pape through complexity and concentration denoting an exacerbated minerality.
Numerous grape varieties from "collection vines" are blended: Grenache, Vaccarèse, Counoise, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Terret Noir and Muscardin.
The wine is aged for over 15 months: 1 quarter in French oak barrels, 1 quarter in foudre, 1 quarter in demi-muids and 1 quarter in concrete vats, giving it body and revealing notes of moccha and spices and intense aromas of blackberry and plum.

The La Tempérance cuvée is made from a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah.
The purity is given pride of place, the aim being to preserve the fruit without influencing it through aging using traditional methods. To achieve this, vinification and aging are partly carried out in Wine Globes, small 200-liter glass containers. These unprecedented methods are part of Xavier Vignon's more general project to preserve the purity of the wine. The wine is concentrated and structured, with silky tannins and notes of cherry, pepper and leather.