THE SETTING

Château des Karantes is a magnificent vineyard situated in Languedoc-Roussillon. The domaine is in the heart of a small valley located two minutes away from the Mediterranean between the seaside resort towns of Narbonne Plage and St. Pierre sur Mer. The estate offers a beautiful panorama of the Mediterranean Sea with the Pyrenees Mountains visible in the distance. The vineyard is named after a former Bishop of Carcassonne, owner of the estate hundreds of years ago.

THE ESTATE

The estate, nestled in the Mediterranean Garrigue, is made up of 190 hectares, 43 of which are currently under vine. The vineyard extends along the limestone, clay and rocky slopes which form the “Massif” or Ridge of La Clape. The entire vineyard is in the Coteaux du Languedoc - La Clape Appellation. The location allows the production of quality wines because of its exceptionel South-East/East exposition, its proximity to the sea and its Mediterrenean climate.

THE VINEYARD

The terroir of château des Karantes  is distinguished by its proximity to the sea and its South-East/East exposition. The inland side of the vineyard is surrounded by the cliffs of La Clape which protects the grapes from the drying ‘Vent du Nord’ (North Winds) while the cool breeze from the sea assures the balance and freshness of our wines. The soil is predominately Clay and Limestone and allows the production of rich, powerful and aromatic Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre based wines. At the entrance of the estate an area of sandy-silty soils produce delicate and elegant red and white wines.

The Vineyard is planted with the traditional varietals of La Clape, (17.8% Carignan, 29.3% Grenache, 32.2 % Syrah, and  16.6% Mourvedre) and a small one hectare parcel of a white varietal called Terret and Bourboulenc 4.1 %. The Terret are the oldest vines planted on the estate, dating back to 1927. There are Carignan vines that can be traced back to 1928. The vines are planted 5000 per hectare. In our goal to improve the vineyard, 5.7 hectares of Syrah were planted in 2005 and then 3.4 ha of Syrah and 1 ha of Mourvedre in 2006.