Eric Ughetto took over the family vineyards in Gigondas in 1990 and was later joined by his wife Sophie. It was at this point that the couple decided that it was time to make wine themselves from their grapes, and the first vintage of La Roubine was made in 2000.
Today both work in the vineyards and cellar together, with Sophie also looking after the business side of things. The estate as a whole is fairly small, with family owned land and leased land totalling 15.5 hectares, split between Gigondas (5), Vacqueyras (5), Séguret (0.5) and Sablet (5).
Though it means that they have to be careful choosing the moment to hand-pick the grapes, Eric and Sophie like to leave the stems on the bunches during fermentation, a traditionalist approach. The grapes are painstakingly selected for ripeness by the pickers and then sorted again at the cellar by Eric. The wine is matured in a mixture of concrete tanks and hogsheads before bottling without fining or filtration. The domaine is also now certified organic, having eschewed chemicals of any kind for several years.