In 1967, Aimé Sabon came back from his military service. He took over his father’s vines, who used to take his grapes to the wine cooperative.
In 1973, Aimé built his own cellar. Domaine de la Janasse was born and named after the family farm that was in Courthézon, in the locality of “La Janasse”. Aimé was ambitious. He knew he had fabulous soil and he wanted to expand the estate by acquiring new plots. From 15 hectares at the very beginning, La Janasse has now reached more than 90 hectares.

Due to its fragmented structure -more than sixty plots- the area of La Janasse covers a mosaic of terroirs. Thorough research on soil, exposure and microclimates helped to ideally organize the vineyard. White varieties and syrahs were preferably planted on sandy limestones, exposed eastward of the appellation in order to preserve freshness, acidity and fineness. Mourvedres were planted on clay-limestone soils covered with river rocks so as to reach perfect maturity.

The geographical scattering of different parcels brings great complexity to blending. It also legitimizes special cuvees like Chaupin, Les Garrigues, Terre d’Argile and terre de Bussières. For example, we produce Chaupin and Les Garrigues –100% grenache wines– as we are convinced that grenache reaches its full expression on cooler northern soils. On southern soils, generosity of the grenache must be balanced with mourvèdre and syrah.