Domaine La Grange english

La Grange will become even better

We have a additional consultant.

(from left to right: Thomas Raynaud, Pierre Fonteneau, Rolf Freund, Kyriakos Kynigopoulos, Nicolas de St.Exupérie)

From now on the renowned winemaker and consultant Kyriakos Kynigopoulos from Burgundy, and his right hand, Pierre Fonteneau, will set new accents at La Grange.
Kyriakos Kynigopoulos is one of the most known wine people in France. The magazine Terre des Vins declared him winemaker of the year.

Our long-standing consultant Jean Natoli will continue to support us. He will see to the daily needs at La Grange, so to say.
Kyriakos is well-connected in the international wine-world. He advises high-ranking wineries in Burgundy, Rhône and Oregon. His most famous client is the spanish winery Vega Sicilia. For Vega Sicilia he created the outstanding white wine Oremus in Hungary.

Kyriakos and Pierre visited La Grange last August. They had a look around the vineyards and got a first overview of the quality of our wines during a tasting-marathon.

The first improvements he suggested have already been implemented during the last harvest and are showing first promising results.

Our winemaker Thomas Raynaud thinks he can see a considerable improvement in quality and clarity.

It is our goal to give our wines an attractive freshness. We want to encourage the characteristic of our vineyards and the different varieties to shine through and we want to strengthen our different ranges.

Of animals and men - The La Grange Tradition wines

Our predecessors at La Grange, the Sabatier family not only made wine, they also raised sheep. Even today old drystone walls and stone shelters for the shepherds bear witness of the sheep-breeding times at La Grange. There's even an old stable left.

We revisited this old tradition of sheep husbandry with our Tradition wines. Frisette, the first sheep born at La Grange in modern times takes pride of place on the labels.
We already wrote about the laborious rearing of our own little herd.

François and his son Raphael lovingly take care of all their charges, and this spring, we again had newborn lambs to enliven life on the winery.

Tradition Grande Cuvée Blanc IGP Pays d'Oc
A creamy white wine made from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

Tradition Grand Cuvée Rosé IGP Pays d'Oc
The three varieties Cinsault, Mourvèdre and Syrah are united in perfect harmony. An striking Rosé, perfect for summer barbecues.

Tradition Sélection IGP Pays d'Oc
Merlot and Syrah combined to charming elegance.

Tradition Pat Bibal" IGP Pays d'Oc
Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, harvested from our most valuable vineyard: Prat Bibal. Prat Bibal is a typical wine from southern France: Powerful and imposing with dark notes of berries.

An interview with helping hands from Germany

Thank you Lars and Marcus for helping with the harvest at La Grange. What were your first impressions?

Marcus: This was the first time that we helped with the harvest, so we didn't know what to expect. In the morning, when the vineyards are still shady, work was easy.
At noon, in the full sun, things looked differently all of a sudden. It's really hard work. Hats off to the people who have to do this all the time.

Lars: When I was introduced as the the boss's son-in-law conversations stopped for a couple of minutes. When it became clear that I don't speak french, everyone was happy to start talking again. At the end of the working day we shared what little french or german we all knew - very much to the amusement of everybody.

Marcus: Of course we didn't have any food with us because we didn't know lunch takes place in the vineyards. But they all shared their food with us. We really appreciated that.

Renate: Did you learn something new?
Lars and Marcus: Until now we only drank wine and never really thought much about 'winemaking'. During our holiday we followed the process from grape to fermentation for the very first time. It's impressive how much physical work is necessary for the last stages. After observing that you look at a bootle of wine with different eyes.

Renate: Are you in for the next harvest?
Both: Of course! Maybe even for a prolonged period of time, now that we know how things work.
Renate: What are your favorite wines?
Lars and Marcus: Castalides Réserve and Prat Bibal Tradition

A refreshing stop on the ralley circuit

The classic car ralley 'Le Circuit des Coteaux Languedociens à Cassan' is organized by the Herault region center of tourism. La Grange offered a refreshing stop on their circuit.

Daniel and the retiree's-club of old pumps

(Rolf and Daniel)

After his retirement Daniel from Gabian didn't want to stress his wife at home with his continuous presence; so he was looking urgently for a new pastime.
With seven friends in the same home-situation he founded a retiree's-club devoted to restoring old machines and tools.
He himself has collected and lovingly restored more than 30 old pumps to this day. An old harvester, an old calèche and tractors are being cared for by other club members.

(Daniel's shop and his old treasures)

Of course these old treasures should not be hidden away in old warehouses all the time, they want to be presented to the public every once in a while. The best opportunity for an extensive show was the inauguration of our new winery last week.

The entire retiree's-club came and all the old pumps, some of them older than a hundred years, were fired up and presented to an interested public.The absolute highlight of this collection is an old wood gasifier. It stinks and gives off clouds of smoke but it can still do it's duty. So whenever there's a gasoline shortage - Daniel can help!

Daniel has many funny and touching stories to tell. For example he told me about an old couple who gave him their old pump. It was rotting away somewhere but Daniel managed to polish and repair it. When he showed the old couple how well their old pump worked again, they burst into tears. Suddenly they remembered old times!

The best story is this, however: Like every self-respecting club the retired gentlemen went on an outing to enjoy nature (and probably some time off from their wives). Of course one of the old pumps had to along. Two police officers happened to come by just when the gentlemen started the old machine and the officers didn't like it one bit. They took the whole retirees-club to the police station. The older gentlemen were outraged that their fingerprints were taken on this occasion. The retirees-club thought this to be excessive and scandalous. It's a good thing they weren't taken to jail, because then who should have presented the old pumps at our inauguration?!