Le Calvaire | Domaine Simone
The legacy of a forgotten plot.
40% slope: the land nobody wanted
Le Calvaire is one of the steepest hillsides in the Canton of Geneva, facing due west, impossible to mechanize. A 40% slope, scorching in summer, slippery in winter, every gesture is done by hand, with effort, without shortcuts. It is this character that earned it its name. And it is this same character that, for a long time, drove many of our peers to prefer the neighboring plots.
Planted even before the signature
Damien Simone arrived even before being the owner. On this bare, uprooted, raw plot, he started by plowing it by hand, alone, even before the signature was placed. Then he replanted 900 carefully chosen vines: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, grape varieties selected for their resilience against the climatic challenges of tomorrow.
Shaping the earth, reading the living, listening to the soil
A work of meticulous observation, listening, and understanding of the living world. Additions of organic amendments to awaken a soil compacted for too long. And patience, that of letting things happen, of not forcing, of understanding that the earth cannot be corrected in a single season. A work that is seemingly manual but deeply intellectual, made possible by his training as an engineer in viticulture and oenology, which taught him to read the living world as much as to respect it. The vine responded. The soil became grassed. Lizards, pollinators, and cover crops returned.
The first harvests: when the earth responds
What the Calvaire takes, it gives back to us. The first harvests spoke for themselves. A quality that cannot be invented, that can be read in the bunch even before being tasted in the glass. And the winemakers of Russin, who had watched us arrive with the curiosity reserved for strangers, cast a different look on this hillside they had known forever.
The Calvaire cuvée: a tribute to this plot
This is why we chose to give this name to our entire range. Not out of nostalgia, but because everything we do starts there, on this slope, in this effort, and that will not change.