Faugères

Faugères Wine - Buy Wine from the Faugères Region of France

The appellation of Faugères, which lies in the foothills of the Cévennes looking down on the plains above Béziers and Pézenas, must be one of France's last sizeable vine areas (with 1,700 hectares of vines) that is seriously underrated, if not undiscovered. A high, predominantly south-facing elevation and distinctive soil of friable, iron-rich schist provide a superb and highly idiosyncratic environment for viticulture.
Back in 2009 former stock-broker Julien Seydoux bought the 35 hectare Château des Estanilles estate from veteran vigneron Michel Louison. From the outset Julien stated that he wished to build upon Château des Estanilles’ outstanding reputation and did not want to make any sweeping changes to the established regime. Julien pragmatically retained Michel’s services on a consultancy basis for his inaugural harvest and has since put the entire vineyard ‘under conversion’ to become organic from 2012. Happily 2009 was a superb vintage here in Faugères (as it was throughout France) so the new patron appears to be off to a good start. Faugères is, of course, first and foremost a red wine appellation and the Château des Estanilles produces some fine examples from mature rootstock.