On November 12, 2021, at the age of 71, Eloi Dürrbach, one of the world’s best-known winemakers, who until then had headed the Domaine de Trévallon, passed away.

It was in Saint-Étienne-du Grès that Eloi Dürrbach decided to plant 17 hectares of vines some forty years ago. Everyone, critics and importers alike, had advised him against exploiting this northern slope of the Alpilles. Going his own way, he developed what quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. Even his parents had advised him not to stop studying architecture in Paris before devoting himself to the vineyard.

Today, the success is such that it irritated Eloi Dürrbach until a few days ago, who ruminated: “Yes, it annoys me to see that my white wine is sold for 300 euros in certain Parisian restaurants. Too much“.

An iconoclastic winemaker

In 1974, Eloi returned to the family property at Trévallon, which his parents had bought with their income as artists. His mother, Jacqueline, sold one of the tapestries reproducing Guernica by Picasso, a friend of the couple, and gave Eloi the money to clear the vines and start production. For 3 years, he worked tirelessly to give birth to his future estate. He reworked the hill, creating gentle slopes, uprooted trees, smashed rocks to pieces and chased away any hunters who trespassed on his domain.

As for grape varieties, he finally planted them in 1974, after preparing the ground and studying at length a book by Dr. Jules Guyot,
Études des vignobles de France
(1868). In this book, he discovers that the Cabernet-Sauvignon/Syrah blend can produce exceptional cuvées. However, this agreement is rather atypical in the region, so much so that some fifteen winegrowers rejected it from the Baux-de-Provence AOC when it was created in 1995. Eloi Dürrbach decided to plant 50% of his vineyard with Cabernet Sauvignon, choosing to be authentic and true to himself rather than conform to the rules.

A worldwide success

In 1981, Aubert de Villaine, owner of the renowned Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, visited the estate and immediately fell under the spell of Eloi Dürrbach’s wines. So he called Kermit Lynch, the biggest importer in the United States at the time, who later introduced Robert Parker to the estate. Robert Parker awarded the 1982 vintage the prestigious score of 100/100, a mark that speaks volumes about the success of the Trévallon estate!

Eloi Dürrbach has never chased after this success. For example, he cultivates his wines in the most natural and gentle way possible, respecting the principles of organic farming since 1976 and the first vintages, without having written it on one of his labels. What’s more, this winemaker has never had an advisor or oenologist to teach him how to make wine. He simply taught himself to do everything.

Even more characteristic of Eloi Dürrbach’s character: he ended up falling out and cutting ties with Robert Parker and then Kermit Lynch, the former because of a cuvée he didn’t appreciate and the latter because he was too greedy about his wines. He preferred to sell to certain loyal French customers, well-known or otherwise.

An artisan winemaker

After reconciling with his father René Dürrbach, Eloi entrusted his father with the creation of some fifty labels, combining spots, straight lines and curves in several different colors. Every year since 1996, Eloi has drawn on his father’s sketches to create labels that are unique to each year.

Like his winegrowing upbringing and character, Eloi Dürrbach’s wine production was simple and modest. Around 50,000 bottles of red and 10,000 bottles of white are produced each year. About half is sold abroad. This scarcity has generated a certain amount of speculation, which has always irritated Eloi Dürrbach.

For several years now, Eloi and his wife Floriane have been helped by their children Ostiane and Antoine in running the estate.

Photo : Domaine de Trevallon