La Cave
Exceptional architecture for Domaine Uma wines
a renowned team
The Clausel family naturally turned to Florence Clausel-Borel to give new impetus to the Domaine, which was born at the turn of the 1800s.
Before setting up her own agency in 2006, Florence Clausel-Borel worked for OMA in New York, Jean Nouvel in Paris, and for three years for Christian de Portzamparc. During her various agency experiences, she has worked on major facility projects: Seattle Library, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Cité de la musique in Rio de Janeiro...
To accompany the architecture proposed by Florence Clausel-Borel, the Clausel family has teamed up with the lighting and scenography expertise of Sara Castagné of Concepto (Notre Dame de Paris - Grotte de Lourdes -Grand Théâtre de Genève) and Philippe Deliau of Alep Paysagiste (Fondation LVMH - Jardin d'acclimatation Paris - Mont Ventoux).
A heritage to preserve
The Domaine's buildings, reminiscent of Cévennes architecture, are set in the heart of an exceptional environment, with a sea of vines offering views to the south over the Pic Saint, the Hortus and the Château de Montferrand, and to the north towards the Chapelle d'Aleyrac.
Successive constructions over the past 225 years have left their mark on the estate, which is characterized by the use of stone from an ancient quarry nearby. However, the estate's last forty years had left gaping scars that the design team had to heal.
A space in constant flux
In the cellar, the choice was made to enhance the limestone by counterbalancing it with contemporary materials such as concrete and stainless steel in the vat room, wood cladding on the ceiling and glass on the two terraces overlooking the cellar.
In parallel with this balance of materials, curves, undulations and roundness complete the picture of exceptional architecture.
Technology is present everywhere in the cellar, without being visible to the visitor. Gravity is reconstituted to enable gentle vatting of the grapes, and the temperature control system allows fermentation to be controlled down to the last degree in each vat.
How the winery works
Receiving the grapes
The courtyard outside the winery is dedicated to the reception of rosés and whites, which are pressed as soon as they arrive, and to the reception of hand-harvested reds. The crates are emptied onto a conveyor belt, where the team keeps only the best. The destemmer separates the berries from the stalks, and a second sorting is carried out before the grapes are placed in vats.
Vatting the reds
The vat room comprises 40 vats ranging from 10 hectolitres to 150 hectolitres. Each represents a parcel of the estate. The vats are raised to the top of the walkways, then emptied through the top of the vats. From now on, each vat is individually temperature-controlled.
Reassembly
Once a day for around 10 days, each vat is pumped over. The juice is pumped up from the bottom of the vat to the top to ensure fine juice extraction and avoid oxidation of the grapes.
De-vatting
Finally, it's time for devatting, when the juices are separated from the berries and skins to be pressed. After the autumn racking, it's time to let the wines settle. Only after a period of ageing will the wines be blended before bottling.
