Tess Davison and her partner Charles Ripoche started Davoche Wines in 2021. They began with a négociant range called Clafoutis, purchasing fruit to make wine from responsible growers with whom they had close relationships. This activity soon expanded into a small estate of their own - 2.5 ha of heritage vines in the sun-drenched, wind-swept Roussillon village of Cassagnes. Both winemakers come from excellent backgrounds. Tess, originally from Australia, worked as a chef in prestigious kitchens around Europe, gaining experience at Noma, Mugaritz, and Le Manoir before turning to winemaking and completing a degree in oenology. She worked in a number of wineries across Australia, New Zealand, and France to get hands-on experience before following her passion to make her own wine. Charles, a native of the Loire Valley, also graduated with an oenological degree and worked under Antoine Foucault of Domaine du Collier (son of Clos Rougeard’s famed Charly Foucault) and local legend Cyril Fhal of Clos du Rouge Gorge. Charles and Tess’s paths crossed while working at Felton Road Winery in New Zealand. They’ve now found their home in the south of France, and together, they believe in simple farming and little to no manipulation in the cellar. Things are carried out in a hands-on, old-school manner. They put lots of effort into a variety of labor-intensive projects that will reap benefits for years to come, such as planting nitrogen-fixing trees like carob in the vineyards to improve the content of their soils, alongside strawberry and peach trees, flowers, drought-resistant plants and shelters for birds, bees, insects, and bats to encourage biodiversity. They work biodynamically on their estate, and the goal is to make honest wines of great feeling while working as cleanly as possible and letting nature do her thing. 

These are low to no sulfite, unfiltered wines that undergo very short macerations so as not to extract too much—in the style of their mentor, Cyril Fhal. We can’t wait to see what this exciting young couple has in store. In the meantime, it’s time to enjoy the delicious drinkers they’ve produced thus far!