From Rasteau, the birthplace of the Domaine des Nymphes, the Mont Ventoux and the Dentelles de Montmirail, two symbolic places of the Rhône Valley, dominate. This is where the Domaine des Nymphes is located, a family estate created by the Meyer family in 1979. The domain was taken over in 2019 by Eric Petitjean, helped by Christophe Didier, convinced of its tremendous potential. The Domaine des Nymphes offers a range of AOC Rasteau, AOC Côtes du Rhône Villages and AOC Vins Doux Naturels wines.
The proximity of Rasteau to the vineyards of the Dentelles de Montmirail and Ventoux, managed by Château la Croix des Pins, which Eric Petitjean shares with Jean - Pierre Valade, gave them the idea of developing AOC Gigondas, AOC Beaumes de Venise and AOC Ventoux wines, made from the grapes of Château la Croix des Pins, under the name " Villa des Nymphes ". Thus, the Villa des Nymphes is an invitation to discover this plain between the Dentelles de Montmirail and the Mont Ventoux.
The Villa des Nymphes thus finds its source in Rasteau, in the heart of the Rhône Valley vineyards. It perfectly inspires the grace, elegance and finesse that characterize the range of wines it offers. Each cuvée is a tribute to its terroir and to the personality of the Nymph whose name it bears, awakening the most delicate and varied sensations during tasting.
In the same dynamic, the Villa des Nymphes offers you an AOC Crozes Hermitage selected among the best winegrowers of the Appellation, composed of the most beautiful Syrah of the Vineyard. An ode to elegance and a call to a feast that perfectly suits its name, Thalie.
Like the Roman Villa where each room has a specific function and aura, the wines of the Villa des Nymphes reflect the personality of the Nymph whose name it takes. Thus, the AOC Beaumes de Venise, Dryade, would be associated with the peristylum, the inner courtyard of the Villa with a small garden, Dryade being a forest Nymph protecting the flora, and the AOC Beaumes de Venise being known for its will to protect the environment.
Oréade is a nymph of the mountains, who, like Gigondas, embodies Beauty, Grace and Elegance, she therefore represents well the Tabernae, these stores managed by the dominus under the arches of the Villa, because of this finesse, this elegance and this beauty which were sought on the stalls of these Tabernae. This nymph is not a goddess, but can live several million years. Our AOC Gigondas has no limit of conservation...
Thalie is the Muse who presides over comedy, epigrams and feasts, like this AOC Crozes Hermitage bearing her name and which brings together all the great qualities of Syrah, which makes it an invitation to feast. It is perfectly at home in the Oecus, the private room reserved for the family of the dominus. Thalie is therefore an invitation to discover the Northern Rhône Valley.
Similarly, the AOC Ventoux, Ampelos, could be associated with the dining room, the triclinum, where the frescoes always have as their theme the cult of Dionysus, God of drunkenness, and Ampelos being a satirist whose death gave birth to the vine and wine.
Eridan, god of a river flowing in the West of the world, is a wine of character with a fine but frank woodiness, and a masculine spiciness reminiscent of the Rhone, a river long wild but finally tamed by Man, of which Eridan has often been the personification. In some texts, Eridan is also an allegory of the setting sun whose warmth recalls that of our red AOC Ventoux, or that of the Tablinum, the reception room where the dominus received his guests.
Calliope, the muse of poetry, reflects freshness and majesty, like the AOC Ventoux rosé offered by the Villa des Nymphes, which embodies freshness with its citrus notes, which we can imagine very well in the Cubiculum, a perfect resting place to listen to poetry.
Oceania is a water nymph, playmate of Persephone, the goddess of Spring. Oceane is often depicted crowned with flowers, reminiscent of the springtime notes of white lilac and yellow apricot that the white AOC Ventoux embraces. This cuvée ideally embodies the atrium and the impluvium, the inner courtyard with a rainwater retention basin.
The range offered is made up exclusively of organic wines, the production of which closely respects the terroir and environment of each appellation.