Vineyard of Domain le Cazal

Old Carignan Noir vines (80 years old) & Grenache Noir (50 years old) share this typical Mediterannean scrubland of broom, cistes (a local cistaceous plant), thymes & junipers together with younger vines like Syrah (30 years old). These three grape varieties share approximately one third each of our vineyard.

We have established a programme in order to rejuvenate our vineyard that we have developed & implemented over several years. Firstly, we expanded the percantage of Syrah then, secondly, renewed the older Carignan vines & now the Grenache.

These vines, spread over chalky-clayey soil covered by white stone, are situated at the foothills of the Montagne Noir (Black mountains) in a very contrasting climate : strong, cold north wind in winter, low annual rainfall, violent summer storms, wide differences in day & night temperatures (favouring late ripening grapes) which provides a ‘terroir’ both complex & rich in diversity.

Our Expertise

Today our work is a mixture of old & traditional methods which were passed on by our parents (eg breaking up & aeration of soil by mechanical means, hand pruning, staking, mechanical weedkiller, debudding, hand harvested) & modern techniques introduced by our Agronomy engineering advisor, CICOVI (eg ; advice on the choice of active materials for pesticide & weed killing treatments, leaf & soil analysis, setting up of trellising, precise preparation of soil prior to planting, removal of the unwanted bunches of green grapes...).

Environmentally friendly method of winegrowing

On difficult terrains : steep slopes, very arid & compact soils in summer, very wet in winter, sometimes shallow near the canyon…. ; we have chosen, for the last 10 years, to apply the rules & regulations of
Culture Raisonnée (Certification Obtenue en Avril 2004 lors de la sortie des décrets d’application).
The goal is to work whilst respecting the environment : reduction of herbicides by only treating the row at very low doses, we no longer use insecticides or, if necessary, those insecticides authorised by organic methods, orientation towards manuring by organic fertilizer etc…
Our work is based on the study & reflection on each of our actions in order to achieve the most successful outcome.

« An ecosystem that self manages itself under the close surveillance of the winegrower » would be a good definition of "l’agriculture raisonnée".
This ensures the traceability of our work & the steps taken to ensure the quality that we promise to respect.

High Quality

The objective of our meticulous work is to obtain high quality grapes at the moment of harvesting that are both aromatic & flavourful : this is the result of short pruning & the harvesting of the unwanted green grapes(thus reducing the yields to between 30 & 40 hl/ha, the maximum permitted in the AOC Minervois being 50 hl/ha, therefore having 8 – 12 bunches of grapes per vine concentrates both the sugar & the aromas of the fruit).

The second objective is to have the healthiest quality possible at the moment of harvesting : this is the result of various treatments of crucial active materials, between May & the beginning of August, to control mildew &, in particular for us, Oïdium, together with our fastidious work regarding trellising & debudding.

An area of utmost importance in our work is also the choice of enrichment & ploughing that will enable the vines to absorb to the best of their ability the organic matter & oligoelements from the soil.