Domaine du Météore is launching a range of wines in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam today. This exciting development sees Domaine du Météore, and the Van Gogh Museum create two organic wines inspired by the world-famous artist Vincent van Gogh, which capture the essence and beauty of the South of France.
Working with the Van Gogh Museum, Domaine du Météore is launching wines reflecting the link between nature and art, the South of France and Vincent Van Gogh himself. Just as Vincent captured the essence and beauty of these southern landscapes in his paintings, Domaine du Météore has created wines born from the same terroir.
The organic white wine takes its name, Sunflowers, from the famous sunflower picture painted near Domaine du Météore, which is located in Languedoc. The red wine is called Avenue of Poplars in Autumn after the beautiful autumn landscape with tall poplar trees lining the roads, typical of the Languedoc region.
As an organic wine Domaine in the South France, with its vines growing in and around a 10,000-year-old meteorite crater, Domaine du Météore has a unique natural setting. Both the paintings and the Domaine highlight the importance of nature and its influence on artistic and viticultural creations.
The Sunflowers white wine is a blend of organic Rousanne and Viognier grapes typical of the region where the Domaine is located. The Avenue of Poplars in Autumn red wine blends organic Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre grapes.
The Sunflowers wine bottle has a beautiful label depicting the masterpiece, with the name Sunflowers written below. The Avenue of Poplars in Autumn bottle’s label depicts Van Gogh’s 1884 painting, which he described to his brother as “a study of an avenue of poplars with the yellow autumn leaves, where the sun makes glittering patches here and there on the fallen leaves on the ground…”
Van Gogh is considered a pioneer of the impasto technique, the use of thickly textured oil paint and bold brushstrokes for their expressive traits to draw attention to a certain aspect of the work. The wine bottle labels have been skilfully created to replicate this technique with layered, tactile and eye-catching designs.
Domaine du Météore’s winemaker, Simon Frech, says, “Van Gogh’s paintings and our wines are both the product of the same terroir of Mediterranean garrigue. Van Gogh was captivated by the special light that we have in our region, light that makes our grapes grow until perfect maturity. So actually what we try to do when we make Domaine du Météore wines is the same as Van Gogh, demonstrating the beauty of the South of France.”
Domaine du Météore’s co-owner, Dr Paul Jenkins, says, “Domaine du Météore is honoured to be chosen to work together with the Van Gogh Museum and delighted to launch these wines which we have been working on together for over two years. I like to think that, like the swirling colours in Van Gogh’s masterpieces, our wines embody the essence of artistic expression.
Just as Van Gogh found inspiration in the beauty of the world around him, we draw inspiration from the unique landscape that surrounds our vineyard. My family has a long-held fondness for his art, with my son painting several oil paintings of our Domaine in his style (pictured above) using the impasto technique.”
Marijn Veraart, Head of Licensing at the Van Gogh Museum, says, “Certified organic, working to being fully biodynamic, our collaboration with Domaine du Météore fits in perfectly with our want to be associated with stand out, sustainable and ethically driven partners. What makes this even more poignant is that Vincent, when painting in Arles, would have been only 100 miles away in the same latitude as the Domaine – his landscape subject matter is, therefore, very similar to the terrain surrounding the vines themselves, delivering great provenance and storytelling. Oh, and they taste superb too.”
With its organic vineyards located in the South of France, near where Van Gogh painted, Domaine du Météore is the perfect fit to be the wine partner for the Van Gogh Museum. Van Gogh painted his Sunflowers paintings in Arles in the South of France in 1888 and 1889.
Van Gogh “Sunflowers” by Domaine du Météore
- AOP Languedoc Blanc 2022
- Organic Roussanne & Viognier grapes
- 12.5% ABV
- Vinification: Direct pressing of the entire harvest followed by racking and fermentation in stainless steel tanks.
- Ageing: Stainless steel tanks
Tasting Notes:
A brilliant silver colour with an initial delicate mineral nose of flint, which opens up to lemon and nutmeg.
In the mouth, it is punchy and dynamic, with a thirst-quenching finish and notes of fresh pineapple.
RRP from £19 for a 75cl bottle, available for consumers to buy from the Domaine du Météore website and rolling out to other UK retailers, including Gnarly Vines and Clapton Craft from mid-August.
Van Gogh “Avenue of Poplars in Autumn” by Domaine du Météore
- AOP Languedoc Rouge 2020
- Organic Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre grapes
- 14% ABV
- Vinification: The grapes are destemmed, then vinified in stainless steel tanks with the tannins and colour extracted using several traditional methods (pumping-over, racking and pigeage).
- Ageing: Stainless steel tanks
Tasting Notes:
It is a deep purple in colour with carmine red reflections and an aromatic nose combining intense blackcurrant with the freshness of balsamic and garrigue.
The palate is fresh and easy, with a long and spicy finish.
RRP from £19 for a 75cl bottle, available for consumers to buy from the Domaine du Météore website and rolling out to other UK retailers, including Gnarly Vines and Clapton Craft from mid-August.
About Domaine du Météore
Domaine du Météore is owned by Paul Jenkins, Paul Jarman, Vinkey & Andrew Allen. The two Pauls are London-based doctors, friends and wine enthusiasts who have known the area well for many years. Passionate about the possibilities presented by the Faugères schist terroir to create truly compelling wines, they spent a long time searching for a vineyard with the right potential, history and a truly unique setting.
When they found Domaine du Météore, they knew they had found the right land and vines to create the wines they wanted. They were joined in 2021 by Vinkey & Andrew Allen, friends and fellow wine enthusiasts who live in San Francisco, where they are building out the US business.
Simon Frech is Domaine’s Director and winemaker. Born in Bordeaux, where his grandfather was a winemaker, Simon has considerable international experience, having worked in prestigious vineyards in New Zealand and Argentina. In the latter, he was head of R+D in a 130 Ha estate where he learnt an enormous amount about vinification techniques.
He has worked in France for the last 15 years, gaining awards for his wine-making, but is passionate about the potential of the Domaine’s terroir and shares the view that it can make great wines. Simon believes that in order to do so, humility is essential, and it is only when you can observe and know the vines from each plot and their corresponding wines that it becomes possible to adapt different techniques to make original wines that can fully express the great terroir.
Farmed organically for almost 20 years, Domaine du Météore is now in biodynamic conversion. The Domaine is situated in 20—30 hectares of National Park, and eagles, wild cats and wild boar all reside there. The whole system of making wine at Domaine du Météore is in tune with the biodynamic ecosystem surrounding the vines. Everything from the harvesting of grapes to the food used to grow it organic in rhythm with the lunar cycle.
At the heart of the vineyard lies a huge crater created by the massive impact of a meteorite travelling from south to north. At 10,000 years old, it is one of the youngest of the known craters on the planet and one of the 50 largest in the world and the most easily identifiable in France.
The crater has been surveyed by a Professor of Geophysics from Frankfurt University, who not only states it to be the best example of a meteorite impact crater in Europe; he has also found nano-diamonds within the impact rocks. He believes a 2-3- metre-wide meteorite hit at a speed of 30,000 kph with the force of an atomic bomb, and its resultant vaporisation would have resulted in a cloud of meteorite dust that would have settled across all of Domaine du Météore’s plots, giving credence to the suggestion that the Domaine produces cosmic wines.
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