Château de Cabriac

Château de Cabriac has been a family estate since 1802, owned by Jean and Michèle de Cibeins, who take great care in cultivating the vines and making the wines. Thanks to a particularly favorable terroir, the estate produces excellent wines in the Corbières appellation as well as vins de pays d'Oc. The soil at Domaine de Cabriac is composed of clay and limestone over sandstone and shallow sandstone marl, which heats up quickly. Its northerly exposure to the Alaric mountains protects it from Mediterranean heatstroke and facilitates slow, gradual ripening of the grapes. In addition, the diversity of exposure allows Mediterranean grape varieties such as Mourvèdre and Syrah to develop their aromatic qualities to the full. The estate covers 80 hectares: 45 in Corbières and 35 in Vin de Pays. The de Cibeins family were among the pioneers in introducing Mediterranean grape varieties such as Syrah and Mourvèdre into the A.O.C. zone. Château de CABRIAC wines owe their quality to the material and human resources deployed to transform this fruit of the earth into a wine capable of fully satisfying the mind and senses. This is why the estate was awarded the HVE (High Environmental Value) label several years ago. What's more, the shallow depth of the soil means that yields are low, making for highly concentrated wines. The diversity of grape varieties grown on the estate offers consumers a wide choice of red and white wines to suit their taste affinities: from authentically Mediterranean varieties such as Carignan vieilles vignes, Syrah and Grenache, to varieties imported from other regions of France such as Cabernet-Sauvignon or Merlot from the Atlantic and Pinot Noir from Burgundy, which have adapted remarkably well to our terroir. The white grape varieties, sheltered from the Mediterranean heat thanks to the northern position of the Alaric mountain, benefit from slow, gradual ripening of the grapes, a source of finesse and aromatic richness for the wines. White wines are aged on lees. In AOP Corbières, blends are made according to tastings to obtain the desired profiles: - Le Prieuré Saint Martin: Powerful, intense, highly complex, very long on the palate. - Cuvée Marquise de Puivert: A structured wine for laying down, with silky, complex tannins. When the wines are judged to be up to scratch, they are bottled in the very place where they were made, thus earning the "bottled" label.