L'HYDROPATHE

Domaine des Diables – ‘the devils’- is owned and run by Guillaume and Virginie Philip, and is the home of the MiP* (*Made in Provence) labels as well as Les Petits Diables and Rosé BonBon. Virginie and Guillaume met at Montpellier wine school, and their first production, based on grapes from Virginie's father's vineyard at the foot of The Mont Saint Victoire, was in 2006, from the 2005 vintage. L&S has been their sole UK importer since the 2007 vintage.

Domaine des Diables has won nine consecutive Prix d'Excellence awards at the Concours Général Agricole. This special award is given in recognition of the best ratio of medals to samples presented to the competition and this astonishing record means that their son Paul, born in 2010, has shaken hands with three ministers of agriculture. The MiP* wines are regular winners of awards in all the competitions they have entered in the last ten years.

The vineyards are cultivated in a sustainable, eco-friendly way, bordering on organic farming, with careful monitoring for disease problems so that interventions are kept to the minimum. In the cellar it is all about cleanliness and use of technology to keep the wines as pure and aromatic as possible, so it is fully equipped with pressing under inert gas, tangential filter, and temperature control.

The grapes are harvested at night or in the early morning so as to save energy needed to cool them, and protected from oxidation with dry ice, reducing the need for added sulphites. The grapes are either directly pressed or given a short maceration on the skins, but Guillaume has his own little tricks which he keeps secret, which make for the particularly aromatic expression of the Domaine's wines. Bottling is also highly technical, with the bottles corked under a vacuum.

All the wines are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.