Plateau du Cascal

The Plateau du Cascal lies between Carcassonne and Limoux, in a landscape of hills with the Pyrenees as a backdrop and the plains of the Aude on either side, at the heart of a region of Cathar castles subject to Mediterranean and Atlantic influences. The vines occupy the communes of Rouffiac-d'Aude and Preixan, at the crossroads of the Malepère and Limoux terroirs, and the wine is vinified in Pomas. Julien, from a family of farmers and winegrowers from the Drôme, studied viticulture and oenology, worked at several estates around Carcassonne, then founded the estate in 2014; Sofi joined him in 2018.

About nine hectares are divided into five parcels, aged 15 to 50 years, plus a few young plantings, all isolated by woods, heathland and garrigue. On hillsides or plateaus, with south, south-east, north-east or north-west exposures, they rest on more or less cemented puddingstones and decomposed sandy molasse, sometimes with very large rolled pebbles and red soils. Merlot, Syrah, Cinsault, Cabernet and Chardonnay dominate; a little Chenin and Nielluccio were planted in 2020. Yields remain low, from 10 to 30 hectolitres per hectare. Deliberately, the wines are Vin de France rather than appellation, to maintain complete freedom.

All the vines are certified organic by Ecocert, some managed this way since 2013. No insecticides, little or no ploughing, spontaneous grass cover or a green manure to enrich the soil and prevent erosion, microdosed sulphur and copper reinforced by fermented extracts of horsetail, nettle and alfalfa. All the work is manual, orchestrated by the weather and the lunar calendar, with local labour, family and friends, and harvests in small crates. Biodynamics is envisaged in the short term.

The vinifications are natural: indigenous yeasts, no inputs, unfiltered and unfined wines, often with no added sulphites. The Chardonnay Envie is pressed directly and aged for ten months in a fibreglass tank, a natural sparkling Chardonnay spends twelve months on laths, and a Merlot under carbonic maceration gives a frizzante bubble. Since 2022 there is also a forty-are pedestrian orchard, with Golden, Gala and Fuji, for eating apples, juice and fermentation trials.