Domaine Rière Cadène

Located in Roussillon, between the coastal influences and the foothills of the Pyrenees, Domaine Rière Cadène is a family-owned estate whose winemaking history dates back to the early 20th century. The estate took on its current form in 1994, when Laurence and Jean-François Rière took over the vineyard inherited from their family and began a comprehensive effort to improve the quality of the vineyards and understand the terroirs.

The vineyard is spread across several complementary regions of Roussillon, offering great geological diversity.

• The white grape vineyards are located in Espira-de-l’Agly, on black schist and marl soils, which lend the wines structure and depth.
• These full-bodied reds come from the limestone terraces of Calce, a terroir renowned for its ability to produce dense yet balanced wines.
• The richer reds come from the rounded pebbles of the Têt Valley, near Perpignan, lending them suppleness and immediate fruitiness.

The vineyard is managed using a long-standing commitment to organic farming, formalized through AB certification beginning in 2016. Our practices prioritize soil health and biodiversity: planting cover crops, strictly limiting inputs, using plant extracts, and respecting natural cycles. This focus on living organisms results in a rich and balanced agricultural environment, which can be observed daily in the vineyards.

In the cellar, the winemaking process follows the same principle of restraint. Interventions are kept to a minimum to preserve the expression of the grapes and the terroir, and aging methods are chosen to reveal the wine’s natural balance rather than to shape it. Each cuvée seeks to faithfully reflect its origin, with profiles ranging from immediate drinkability to deeper, more structured expressions.

In 2015, Guilhem Batlle, the nephew of Laurence and Jean-François, joined the estate, bringing a fresh perspective while building on the work already underway. Today, Domaine Rière Cadène offers a precise and coherent interpretation of the Roussillon terroirs through wines that are approachable, rooted in their landscape, and capable of adapting equally well to casual gatherings as to more demanding gastronomic settings.