Terroir with a rugged accent

“Nature is at the crux of this wine region – these are not vineyards in the middle of nowhere. In Faugères, these are vineyards set amidst garrigue or scrubland, which has a major influence on the typicity of our top wines. This is unique and cannot be relocated, it is the very essence of our appellations of origin”.

Nathalie Caumette, chair of the Faugères appellation, April 2017

Faugères. A wine region with an accent – a rugged accent.

Unique natural resources conspire to produce wines with an unmistakable Faugères stamp. Every day, wine growers set out both to protect that environment, and interpret it. 

The climate and schist soils place a natural cap on yields, restricting them to an average 33 hectolitres per hectare.

Nevertheless, the vines of Faugères show lots of vigour because they are protected, cooled and sustained by the unspoilt natural surroundings that envelop them, and they are pampered by the wine growers who lavish tender loving care on them. 

Fully trained to slide their roots into the cracks and crevices between the bedrock in search of water deep underground, they are able to withstand extreme heat.

The fruit thus produces concentrated terroir-driven juice that fully reveals all these natural elements in the wines: the minerality of the schist, the aromas of garrigue herbs, the strength of the sunlight and the coolness of high altitude woodlands. 

Viewed as peculiar when Languedoc was the powerhouse of French wine production, Faugères wine growers had made no mistake – Faugères is an outstanding location for growing excellent wines, by Nature! 

On the basis of this, they constantly ramp up their efforts to preserve this unique location by (re-) developing many eco-friendly techniques.