Closerie des Lys 14 Items

Since 1997 Domaine Antugnac has been owned and managed by Christian Collovray and Jean-Luc Terrier. These childhood friends grew to become business partners of Domaine Des Deux Roches in the Maconnais. Looking to expand, they focused on Languedoc where land prices were much better than in Burgundy. Antugnac, tucked away in Limoux's Haute Vallé quickly became the clear choice.

The domaine is roughly fifty miles west of Carcassonne in a lovely, isolated mountain valley hidden in the Pyrenean foothills, anchored by the old village of Antugnac (whose church was built as a kind of bastide, or fortified building, to protect the villagers from marauding bands in the middle ages). The vineyard parcels start at the village, but the majority climb the heights of the south-facing flanks, growing between 280 and 530 wind-swept meters above sea level in meager limestone soils.

The partners quickly understood that this location offered Languedoc's sunshine tempered strongly by mountain coolness. Limoux is Languedoc's only cru for white wine because it is the coolest region in Languedoc, and Limoux's Haute Vallée is the coolest of the cool (the temperature influence is such that the old vine Chardonnay here follows the same vegetative cycle as the partners' Chardonnay in Macon).

The partners figured that wine from these mountain vines could achieve sunny ripeness coupled with distinct freshness, and what they tasted confirmed the possibility. What they have come to subsequently make certainly confirms this, and it's aided in no small part by their attention to detail. Harvest typically begins in the wee hours before dawn and finishes by 11 in the morning, before the hot weather commences. Extractions lean toward the light and short scale. They look for fruit, not power.

Beginning in 2002, the partners began planting new, high-density parcels on Antugnac’s hillsides. Today, the domaine farms 96 hectares, or nearly 240 acres. The majority is planted in Chardonnay, but thirteen varieties are cultivated. Two primary ranges of wine are made: a base range of remarkably well-priced and lively wines labeled Closerie des Lys (based on grapes from the domaine and augmented by grapes purchased on the négociant market); and the Domaine Antugnac appellation wines.