Domaine du Verdouble

Domaine du Verdouble has settled in the land of Cucugnan, in the heart of the wild Corbières, in the shadow of the Cathar castles of Quéribus and Peyrepertuse. Laurent Battist, winemaker and storyteller, founded his own cellar there with five hectares of vines, aware that he was inheriting a rare legacy: a terroir with exceptional viticultural qualities, a unique historical environment and an active cultural life.

The estate's name comes from the river that flows at the foot of the cellar: the Verdouble, from the Gaulish "stream of alders". An impetuous river, it has shaped the Corbières massif, carved gorges and accompanied the history of people since prehistoric times. On its banks, garrigue, oaks, broom, fig trees, olive trees and almond trees color the landscape, and the vine, present since Antiquity, draws there in successive touches its greens, yellows and reds.

Although 80% of the vines are under the Corbières AOC, all the wines, Corbières included, carry the Vin de Pays de Cucugnan designation: according to the winemaker, this label once again becomes the witness to the particularities of a terroir. In this land of sun and wind, the grapes are harvested by hand, ripe and healthy. As early as December 2010, he signed up to the charter of the Association of Natural Wines: protect soil life, let each vine find its balance without forcing production, work preventively, preserve a historic and complex range of grape varieties, encourage the return of biodiversity, defend a solidarity-based viticulture.

In the cellar, he rules out osmosis, tangential filtration, cryoextraction, enrichment, acidification, deacidification, yeast addition and enzyme treatment, and limits sulfur to less than 30 mg/l, only before bottling. He promises transparency about the work in the vineyard as well as in the cellar, and campaigns for the truth of taste: healthy, unpolluted wines, faithful to the terroir, the vintage and the winemaker.

The catalogue brings together Carignan, Syrah, Merlot, Grenache and Maccabeu, on their own or blended: a Carignan from old vines, a Carignan-Grenache duo in equal parts, a trio of Carignan, Syrah and Merlot, a Maccabeu from old vines, and labels with storytelling names such as Amen, Miladiou, Carpe Diem or Gelée Noire. Many of the cuvées tell a story.