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After two decades of a fruitful, professional experience in the world of wine in Saint-Émilion, Brigitte Chevalier moved to Faugères in 2007.
She had always wanted to craft her own wine in her own highly individual way, and without the benefit of any inheritance, or any backing, the courageous oenologist embarked on her solo adventure.
Originally from the Languedoc, Brigitte came back to her roots with a precise objective: to make wine with elegance in her own highly individual way.
In a first step, she selected a group of four hectares of north-facing vineyards in a remote part of Faugères, perched at an altitude of 300 meters, and characterised by rugged landscape and a cooler climate. These parcels of vines were turned down by the locals, since the yields were so minuscule. These higher altitude vines are frequently swept by the Tramontane prevailing northerly wind, carrying fresh and pure messages from Haut-Languedoc Regional Parc, hugging the Massif Central.
She subsequently dug the schist soils and built her cellar in 2014, on an exceptional site, where you can see for miles around.
Now totalling 11 hectares, Brigitte’s vineyards are scattered around the commune of Faugères and planted with Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, and Mourvèdre, whose very deep roots are in perfect symbiosis with the slate mother-rock outcrop.
Straight away, she embarked on organic farming and she tends her vines with utmost care. The grapes are hand-picked at optimum ripeness, with relatively small yields - around 25hl/ha (around 3 000 bottles per hectare) – which are sometimes uneconomically low. Brigitte produces wines that are testament to her skill and ability to extract the most from modest vineyards.
‘Our organic wines are hand crafted, with no artifice, in the vineyard, and in the cellar’, Brigitte Chevalier says. She pampers her wines, which age in small stainless steel vats, in her cool underground cellar. Felgaria, the Domaine’s flagship wine, is the only one ageing in oak barrels.
Brigitte Chevalier is humble, yet she captures the style and delicate flavours of this cooler area of the Faugères appellation. The unique profile of her wines makes them some of Faugères’ most exciting gems.
Her labels depict the peaks and ridges of Mont Caroux, which can be seen on a clear day. Chevalier was inspired by the goddess of the regional Celtic tribes, Cébenna, to christen her domaine.
Domaine de Cebène’s wines have polished and soft tannins. They are exquisitely balanced, delicate, mineral, and feminine. These are exceptionally high quality wines, born out of a place with no comparison, carried by a strong environmental awareness. It’s no wonder that ‘Brigitte Chevalier is a star of Faugères’, as Jancis Robinson writes.
