Winery Overview
The Cheron-Misset family has been farming vineyards in Burgundy for four generations. Third generation Denis Cheron saw untapped potential in the Southern Rhône’s lesser-known appellations in the early 1960s and left Burgundy to start a new family project in sunny Provence. Denis purchased a production facility in Vacqueyras and began vinifying wines for several local growers. It wasn’t long before he had earned the trust and friendship of his client-vignerons. In 1982, one of them, the heirless owner of Grand Montmirail in Gigondas, decided to retire and gave Denis right of first refusal to buy his domaine in the appellation’s southeast sector. Denis’s son Yves Cheron graduated from the Lycée Viticole in Beaune in 1983 and headed south the following year to assume control of the family’s new domaine in the Southern Rhône. Since taking over for his father, Yves has expanded the family’s vineyard holdings and now produces an impressive line of pure, elegantly structured, Grenache-based reds without the rustic characteristics so common in wines from this region. The property, Domaine du Grand Montmirail, is at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail mountain and now covers 173 acres/70 hectares across Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Beaumes de Venise, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Crozes Hermitage and Côtes du Rhône. The vineyards lie in a superb natural amphitheater facing southeast, dominated by granite cliffs almost 100 meters high. These vineyards were originally planted in the second century by the Romans. Yves has also established long-term grape contracts with like-minded growers in Sarrians, Seguret and Violes for another 74 acres/30 hectares, which he uses for his Côtes du Rhône. The vinification cellar is gravity-fed, and the cellars are temperature-controlled, located in the heart of the domaine. Recently, Yves Cheron ceded the family’s Burgundy estate to his sisters to solely focus on the three Rhône valley sites, now under one brand, “Famille Cheron.” The three sites include Domaine Grand Montmirail, Domaine Les Hauts de Mercurol and the vinification cellar La Grand Comtadine in Vacqueyras. The Famille Cheron team now includes Yves’s two daughters and his son-in-law. The youngest, Juliette, is working in marketing. The eldest, Elisa, joined the company in 2015 after studying at the National school of Agronomy in Montpellier. During her studies she was an intern working in sales for Yves Cheron, but soon realized she wanted to vinify the wines. She travelled to New Zealand, Australia and California to learn how to vinify and came back home to work for her family’s estate. Now, she works with her father at Domaine du Grand Montmirail. Her husband Marty recently joined the company and works with her in the cellar as well as in the vineyards. Famille Cheron is working toward obtaining Organic Certification AB France.