Situated in one of the oldest wine regions in France, Domaines Ott was founded in 1896 by young agronomist Marcel Ott. After a tour of France’s wine-growing areas, Marcel set his sights an old property in Provence, a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean coast, and an estate that inspired him.
In the heart of this famous wine region, one of the oldest in France, there is a long-standing culture of grape cultivation. But phylloxera destroyed the best vines at the end of the nineteenth century and replanting the vineyards too quickly afterwards resulted in wines with little appeal. When Marcel arrived in Provence, he set about restoring the regions reputation with a fierce determination, replanting all the estates with quality grape varieties so that the great wines of Provence could flourish again.
He founded Château de Selle in 1912, Clos Mireille in 1935 and then Château Romassan in 1956. Today, 120 years later, cousins Jean-François and Christian Ott dedicate their life to their ancestor’s love for the site. In 2004, Domaines Ott joined Louis Roederer and its fabulous selection of wine craftsmen.
Christian and Jean-François run three estates extended over two different appellations: Château de Selle, Clos Mireille and Château Romassan. Each of these properties has its own individual charm and personality. Clos Mireille is 50 hectares of vine with an average age of sixteen years old and is planted with Rolle and Semillon for the production of white and Grenache, Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah for reds and rosés. Finally Château Romassan has 69 hectares of vines with an average of 25 years old and planted with Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah.
The domaine is famous for its Coeur de Grain Rosé made by the ‘saignee’ method at each estate and presented in an iconic bottle shaped like an amphora. It was Provence itself that suggested the iconic shape to René Ott, inspired as he was by the land between the hills and the shores of the sea with its rows and terraces of vines, and the cypress trees shaped like exclamation marks or the shapely trunks of the palm trees. Created in the 1930s, this distinctive bottle has since lost none of its modernity. Today, it gives Domaine Ott its own unique signature.
