Why it matters
The producer
Rotem & Mounir Saouma is the Rhône work of Mounir and Rotem Saouma, Lebanese winemakers who settled in Burgundy in the late 1990s. Their Burgundy négociant business, Lucien Le Moine, remains separate; this Rhône estate began in 2009. From an Orange address, they make Côtes du Rhône Villages and Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines whose long lees ageing and mixed cellar vessels bring weight and texture to both red and white bottles.
After building Lucien Le Moine in Burgundy, the Saoumas turned south to the Rhône in 2009. They did not begin with an established cellar and a complete estate: the first Rhône wines were vinified at the Famille Perrin winery. The resulting project kept a practical link between acquisition and bottle, growing from Pignan into a range that moves from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre in Inopia Rouge to Rhône-white blends aged for a long time on lees.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The project began in Pignan and now reaches across the five Châteauneuf-du-Pape communes of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Bédarrides, Sorgues, Courthézon and Orange. Vintus reports 21 acres across eight vineyards. That spread places the wines in two useful denominations: Côtes du Rhône Villages for the Inopia wines, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape for Magis. The labels therefore mark more than a price step: Inopia is the broader Rhône expression, while Magis draws from named Châteauneuf-du-Pape ground.
Pignan was the first physical foothold: a somewhat neglected five-acre parcel beside the Pignan lieu-dit and Rayas’ Bois de Rayas. Work there includes improved drainage and organic manures, with low yields accepted rather than corrected by pushing the vines harder. For Magis, the Pierredon vineyard in Bédarrides is limestone-heavy, with additional plantings in Courthézon; those sites supply the material for a white with salt, brine and a smoky mineral finish.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Drainage, organic manure and low yields shape the fruit before it reaches the cellar. There, barrels, large foudres, cement vessels and cement eggs are used side by side. The wines are not punched down or racked during ageing, and a light sulfur addition comes shortly before bottling. Less handling leaves the wine on its lees, which can build texture and weight without removing the fruit’s red-fruit perfume or the whites’ fresh acidity.
The white wines receive extended full-lees ageing, with stirring and without fining or filtration. Inopia Blanc is whole-cluster pressed and fermented in 500-litre barrels and 1,600-litre cement eggs; Magis is whole-bunch pressed into 500-litre barrels and also remains on full lees without racking. Those vessel choices explain why citrus and stone fruit arrive with broad body and a saline finish rather than a simple, fleeting fruit profile.
Wines to know
The range in view
Inopia Rouge 2023 is the red starting point: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre aged for 18 months with lees in large French-oak foudres, cement eggs and 500-litre barrels. It is bottled without fining or filtration. The blend carries red fruit and Rhône spice, while the long élevage produces a silky texture rather than hard, drying tannin.
Inopia Blanc brings Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier from the Orange area into barrel and cement-egg ageing. Its four grapes create a white with citrus and floral lift, peach-like fruit and fuller body; the 18 months undisturbed in vessel hold those elements together with fresh acidity and saltiness.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose Inopia Blanc 2022. It is a Côtes du Rhône Villages white of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier, aged for 18 months in 500-litre barrels and 1,600-litre cement eggs. Citrus, white peach and jasmine open the wine; smoky oak, fresh acidity and salt carry it through a long saline finish. It puts the estate’s four-part white blend, long lees contact and mixed-vessel cellar work into one bottle without requiring a move straight to Châteauneuf-du-Pape.