Domaine des Lauriers - Picpoul de Pinet

The estate was created in 1969 by the acquisition of the first parcels of vines. Only the best soils were considered which meant that it was not possible to group all the parcels together, and it was so that the 30 hectare vineyard "DOMAINE DES LAURIERS" gradually took shape. The soil The vineyard spreads through the Mediterranean garrigue with its thousand scents and is in part situated on slopes of red earth covered with pebbles which release the sun's heat to perfect the maturity of our dry whites A O C PICPOUL DE PINET. The other slopes of calcareous clay, mad, produce mellow wines, VINS DE PAYS D'OC CEPAGE ROLLE without a water deficency despite the dry Mediterranean summers. The grape varieties The vineyard of Domaine des Lauriers" is made up of 11 varieties of grape. The main ones being, Viognier, Picpoul and Rolle for the whites and Cabemet Sauvignon, Grenache, Merlot and Syrah for the rosés and the reds. The winery The winery was built in the early 1900's to answer the needs of Mediteranean wine production at that time. In 1995, after the acquisition of the building by "Domaine des Lauriers", the place was thoroughly modernised in order to improve hygene in the vinification process as much as possible. Considerable earth moving was carried out to bury the east side of the winery thus improving the humidity and giving a constant temperature on the one hand and allowing grapes to be tipped straight down into the presses on the other, the presses and vats now being a lower level than the unloading area. This avoids the pumping of the grapes thus improving the quality and aiding the maceration process of the wine as the grapes arrive al the presses uncrushed. The grape harvest is transported in stainless steel trailers with large diameter unloading screws once again to avoid any damage to the grapes. The trailers have airtight covers in order to prevent oxidation of the grapes which are processed in the winery within 45 minutes maximum of picking in order to obtain wines of high quality. Vinification The pressing is done by a pneumatic press with a closed casing all in stainless steel which works by decompression ( in a vacuum ) and gravity filling. The temperature of fermentation is controlled by a network of cooling plates and by a cooling system of 50,000 frigories (1 frigorie cools 1 kgm of water by 1°C ) and 100 HL capacity. The latter enables filtration at 8°C and tartrate precipitation at -3°C. The system is reinforced by a unit of iced water of 20,000 frigories. The various stages of vinification are carried out under a layer of inert gas. The Bordeaux barrels, SEGUIN MOREAU, chosen for their irreproachable quality are used for the making or ageing in wood of our white vines such as PICPOUL DE PINET or the VDP d'OC of ROLLE and SYRAH varieties.

Languedoc - Roussillon, France

15, avenue de Pézenas,

(33) 4 67 98 18 20