Abbaye Sainte Eugenie

Located in Peyriac-de-Mer, in the Aude, in the heart of the Corbières, Sainte-Eugénie Abbey occupies a site whose history begins in 817: founded that year as a Benedictine establishment on the ancient Via Heraclea, it became a Cistercian priory when it was attached to Fontfroide Abbey in 1189, at a time when the land was devoted to cereal crops. Monastic life ended in 1636; sold, the abbey passed to private owners and its estate was transformed into a wine-growing property, enlarged over the centuries. In 1996, a small estate in Banyuls-sur-Mer complemented the range of natural sweet wines.

The vineyard is divided between two terroirs. In Banyuls, the plots of brown schist laid out in terraces make any mechanization impossible: the slope reaches 40% and soil cultivation, pruning and plant protection treatments under integrated pest management are all carried out manually. The Grenache vines, 120 years old, are trained in goblet on a density of 10,000 vines per hectare; missing vines are replaced two years later with rooted vines grafted on site, using scions taken through mass selection from the same plot, in order to preserve the proportion of Grenache Noir and Grenache Gris. Harvest takes place in mid-October, with a potential alcohol of 16 to 18°.

On the Corbières, the vines occupy cool clay-limestone hillsides facing north-east at an altitude of 150 metres, ploughed several times a year. The cuvées combine Mourvèdre and Grenache, Syrah and Carignan, with Macabeu added for the whites, from vines aged 25 to 80 years.

The grapes are harvested by hand and destemmed, then vinified with temperature control; the Corbières reds are aged in barrels before blending, while the whites and rosés are aged for a few months in vats or on fine lees and bottled early to preserve freshness and fruit. For the Banyuls, fermentation is stopped by mutage on the grapes, with the addition of 5 to 10% wine-derived alcohol, followed by maceration under alcohol for about thirty days. The rancio is aged for several years in small containers and in glass demijohns exposed to the sun, with controlled oxidation giving the Arrels cuvée its aromatic complexity. The wines bear the names Ame de Pierre, Nine Dimoni or Jeanne Estève; several are made organically and the estate also offers a pomegranate juice from organic farming.