Corbières AOC, Lézignan terroir, Boutenac and Fontfroide terroirs.

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Vine varieties and terroirs

Les Celliers d'Orfée
53, Avenue des Corbières
11200 ORNAISONS
Phone : 00 33 4 68 27 09 76
Fax : 00 33 4 68 27 58 15

Our appellations

Aude VDP represents 30% of our production in red and rosé wines, with the traditional grape varieties: Carignan, Cinsault and Grenache.

Oc VDP also represents 30% of our production and is expanding, with the planting of improving varieties: Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet for red wines, Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Chasan for white wines.

Corbières and Corbières Boutenac AOC represent 40% of our production, i.e. 2,500 hl, mainly composed of 5 grape varieties.

Three typical varieties from the Carignan and Cinsault appellations, along with the Rhodanian wines made from Syrah and, to a lesser extent, the new Mediterranean variety of Mourvedre, particularly thriving in Bandol area.

Our Terroirs

The Corbières appellation is divided into 11 terroirs, each of them different in its geological composition and microclimate.
Our estate lies on 3 of them :

Lezignan Terroir
Fontfroide Terroir
Boutenac Terroir

BOUTENAC TERROIR : The villages of Boutenac, Ferrals, Villerouge la Crémade, Luc sur Orbieu and Ornaisons are part of this terroir. It was the first terroir to obtain legal recognition of the " Corbières-Boutenac " appellation of origin from the INAO. The decree was published in the Official Journal dated 20th May 2005, establishing the conditions of production of the new appellation of origin and its geographical delimitation.
CORBIERES-BOUTENAC is part of the four communal appellations.

This terroir is situated in the north-western part of the Corbières, less than 20 km south-west of Narbonne.

The medium height is 80 to 100 meters.
Boutenac is a warm terroir intrinsically linked with the Carignan variety. It still constitutes at least 30% of our blendings.
Rainfall is low and the dry season is very long. However, ripening conditions are good until the end of September and some years until mid-October.

This complex terroir results in the combination of stony terraces, limestone plateaux surrounded by pine trees and garrigue, molasses soils with pebbles and quartz. The vines of Carignan go deep in these soils to get rare nourishment, which is a natural rationing favourable to quality.

In the sandstone soils together with the deep marls, Syrah can stand rather easily and with no prolonged stress extreme dry conditions with low though ongoing water consumption.

Grenache dominates on the gravel soils of the hills, relying more on evapotranspiration because of a very low water capacity.

Mourvedre prefers south and south-east sheltered exposures in order to avoid September rains that may affect the ripening of grapes in case of high precipitation levels.