A practising GP in the village of Mornas, Jean-Christian Mayordome bought Domaine du Pourra in 1998 having fallen in love with the landscape in which it sits.
Grenache, syrah, cinsault, grenache blanc and clairette are all grown and many of the vines are old, planted as long ago as 1962. They thrive in both the Seguret and Gigondas appellations, at some 400m up in the hills on rocky clay-limestone soils.
Jean-Christian believes in working as naturally and with as little intervention as possible, and he is helped by the regular appearance of the mistral winds that ventilate the vines and helps them remain disease and fungus free.
All work is done by hand, including the harvest. Yields are low, well below those permitted by the appellation rules, partly due to the poverty of the soils and partly through assiduous management of the vines. He uses only indigenous yeasts and as little sulphur as he can in making the wines and the reds see long-ageing in large old foudres before bottling without fining or filtration.