Domaine Saint Julien - Le Zaparel
Le Zaparel is the name of the cuvée from Domaine Saint Julien, near Azille, in the Minervois, a mixed farm created in 1989 by Stéphanie Minder and Ernest Aeschlimann, pioneers in their day. Their son Paco grew up there, sharing in the farm work, the cellar and the care of the many animals from childhood: peacocks, hens, geese, ducks, sheep, goats, cows, donkeys and horses. He took over the family farm in 2018, when his mother retired, and continues to play the accordion, which he gladly shares during group tastings.
The estate has been certified organic by Ecocert and biodynamic by Demeter since its creation. It cultivates 3.5 hectares of vines, spread between the Azille property, where the Merlot grows, and the hills of Paraza, about twelve kilometers away, whose name, with its syllables rearranged, gave ZA-PAR-EL. There are also 12 hectares of cereal, straw and hay fields, as well as 10 hectares of woodland and land set aside for biodiversity. The animals fed with the farm's cereals ensured self-sufficiency in manure, which explains the rooster in the logo.
The vines grow on limestone and rocky soil, without irrigation, with century-old vines and younger plantings, among pines, holm oaks and garrigue. Macabeu, Marsanne and Roussanne make up the whites; Carignan, Grenache Gris and Noir, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Merlot, the rosés and reds. The work is very lightly mechanized: one tractor pass per year or every two years, the rest by hand. The estate produces its own compost and biodynamic preparations, such as quartz silica from the Corbières or horn manure. There are no synthetic inputs, neither sulfur nor copper in the vines since 2000, and the wines have had no added sulfites since 2010.
The bunches are picked by hand into crates, the destemmed reds fall by gravity into wooden or stainless steel vats, and vinification lasts from 7 to 40 days.
Details gathered from the estate's website and public sources, for information only.
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