Whilst roaming the Roussillon, Jeff Carrel and Sebastien Calduch discovered Ansignan on the other side of Occitanie, and the vines that had long resisted their desires.

Bunches of grapes in Goblet form on small plots of land, taking you back to the crazy years of the 80s, a hilltop covered with Syrah, in an unlikely place in the middle of nowhere.

Everything was to be ripped out, becoming woods after 150 years of human passion on these last plots of vineyards before the ‘Canigou’, sacred mountain of the catalans. Under the charm of such a find and what it represented in terms of wine heritage, they made the decision to take up the challenge of the vineyards and the land, renaming the estate Domaine d'Ansignan.

The first vintage released by the estate is the 2016 DSM Vin d’altitude.

Domaine d'Ansignan,
to maintain what has been lost elsewhere.

Domaine sous la Montagne

 

 

18 hectares of vineyards, some are over 100 years old, spread out over 3 different geographical locations:

Le Camp de l’Argent

Les Dolmens

La Garrigue

Carignan, Grenache, Syrah and Lledoner Pelut.

On the unique granite soils of Ansignan, between 280 and 400 meters above sea level, in an area man has lived for more than 4000 years: Dolmens (ancient tombs), stone age blast furnaces, a Roman bridge rebuilt during the Middle Ages, and of course vineyards.

3 people, 1 from the village of Ansignan, work these vines in the heart of Fenouillèdes.
3 families revitalizing a village in the Pyrenées Orientales. Bringing in people to look after the vines, the countryside walls, the pathways, the flowers, the birds, the school, the bar, and why not a herd of animals, herb gardens for tomorrow… It’s all about rehabilitating land to revive our heritage.

It is to have land now maintained and to preserve a heritage. For the moment, we have installed 12 beehives on the Domaine, replanting missing pieces and lavender.

These 18 ha of vines are in organic conversion.

"Nothing equals the joy of a man having a drink, other than the joy of the wine being drunk."

Charles Baudelaire