Founded in 2001 by Marjorie and Stéphane, Roc Des Anges is a 22 hectare estate situated at Montner in the Agly Valley within sight of the Spanish border.
History
Marjorie was born and grew up in Grenoble, spending her childhood and teenage years surrounded by Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie vineyards. Stéphane was born and grew up in the countryside of Normandy, where he spent a lot of his time helping out in the neighbouring farm. The couple met at the agronomy school in Montpellier and then moved to Roussillon right after graduation in 2000.
Marjorie worked for a few months with Gérard Gauby, from whom she learned a winemaking philosophy. Stéphane worked at Cuilleron and Les Vins de Vienne, after which he worked at Mas Amiel. During this time, Marjorie sought out vines that could be the beginnings of their own estate project. Some parcels in Roussillon reminded her of Côte-Rôtie: one in particular, planted to carignan on a vein of quartz: a white-soil hill surrounded by black schists. The lieu-dit was called Roc Blanc (French for « white rock ») due to this picturesque, natural vein of quartz. "Le Roc des Anges" stems from this duality.
In February 2001, Marjorie founded Roc des Anges in Tautavel and Stéphane joined her in 2008. They began Roc des Anges with clear convictions: the essence lies in nature, the place brings energy to the wine, the light of Roussillon shines but does not burn. These principles naturally led them to biodynamic farming.
That same year, Stéphane went looking for vines in the Maury area. One day he took Marjorie to see some parcels, and they knew right away that these marly-schist and limestone-schist soils were singular. They named their Maury "Les Terres de Fagayra".
"Terres de Fagayra" for their fortified wines (Franceʼs "vins doux naturels"), "Le Roc des Anges" for other wines. Two different names under a joint venture, working together in the vineyard as well as in the winery.
After six years in Montner, the couple realised that whilst their convictions remained the same, their perspective of winemaking had changed. They moved from Montner to Latour-de-France in 2014, and set about on a new milestone for "Le Roc des Anges" and "Les Terres de Fagayra". Here they take their time to seek the true expressions of their terroir. Their goal is to make distinctive wines rather than the best Roussillon wines. They make soil wines, where the sense of place is the wine's hallmark.
