The flora and fauna in our Mediterranean hills are still completely intact, making it ideal for viticulture. Our vines can take full advantage of the sunshine of Southern France, which allows us to harvest our grapes at optimum maturity every year, in particular in terms of ripe tannins. Our vineyards are located at an altitude between 250 and 400 meters above sea level. In summer it is often very hot during the day, however, at night the temperatures fall thanks to the cool and often strong winds of the Tramontane from the northern Cevennes mountains. These conditions are extremely rare in wine regions and reduce the risks of fungal infections significantly. Therefore treatments can be limited to a minimum and allows us to harvest very healthy grapes. In addition, the cool nights in the summer preserve the acidity in the grapes, which gives our wines their characteristic freshness and intense flavours.

Winters are moderately cool and rainy. Faugères, being located at the foot of the Cevennes mountains, enjoys a higher rainfall than in the lowlands, with an average of 600 millimetres of water per year. The rainy season is mainly limited to the months between November and February. It is during this period that the soils are restoring their reserves of water for the dry summer which will follow. --------- ------- -------- Strong and cold winds from the mountains The "tramontane" is characteristic of the climate of Faugères and of Languedoc in general. Its a fresh and dry wind coming from the north from the top of the Cévennes plateaus. Most of the time it is a small wind blowing at 15-20 km/h. But it is not unusual for the "tramontane" to blow continuously for days or even several consecutive weeks at 60-80 km/h. These winds are a natural barrier to fungal diseases. In addition to that night temperatures during the summer months from June to August drop down to 19 degrees on average. This avoids the loss of acidity in the grapes and gives our wines their characteristic freshness. It is no exaggeration to say that the climate of Faugères is ideal for viticulture.

Rich flora and fauna in the vineyards Thanks to our biodynamic work there is a rich flora and fauna in our vineyards. We have identified more than 50 varieties of plants, but there are probably many more. The most common are wild fennel (foeniculum vulgare), wild carrot (carota daucus), wild oats (avena fatuca), spurge harvest (euphorbia segetalis), wild lettuce (latuca saviola), the purple timber (malva sylvestris), leek vines (allium polyanthum), rocket (eruca sativa) and field marigold (calendula arvensis). In the midst of our old vines are vine peach, almond and fig trees. There have been here as long as the vines. To keep up with raditions and to increase biodiversity we planted olive trees around our vine plots. We also built a small lake which collects the water and gives a habitat to a lot of animals. Furthermore we built nests for bats on our trees. The variety of insects, particularly butterflies, as well as birds in our vineyards is impressive. The vitality of flora and fauna is very important for biodiversity and the natural balance of pests in our vineyards.

The viticulture in the Middle Ages During the Middle Ages agriculture in the region of Faugères was mixed, consisting of cereal crops and pulses, horticulture, viticulture, orchards and olive groves, and goat and sheep livestock in the close Cevennes mountains. Viticulture was very much encouraged by the monasteries in the area. In the Middle Ages, the village of Faugères was called “Falgarias” and later “Faugièiras”, which in the then spoken Occitan language means “fern”. During the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, Faugères was a walled small city of the Huguenots. The viticulture in the 19th century With the advent of railroads ba mid 19th century, the Languedoc-Roussillon region became the largest wine region in France, which provided inexpensive wines to the growing urban populations of northern Europe. Wine production then moved mainly to the plains - which were devoted to crops for more than 2000 years - whose soils are much more fertile. The vineyards of the hilly and mountainous areas were mostly given up. In the 19th century the distilled “Fine de Faugères” became quite famous.--------- ------- --------------- ------- --------------- ------- ------ A new generation of winemakers During the 80s things started to change. Faugères became the first AOC in Languedoc, getting theAOP Faugères During the 80s things started to change. Faugères became the first AOC in Languedoc, getting the AOC Faugères in 1981. It comprises six villages: Autignac, Cabrerolles, Caussigniouls, Fos, Faugères, Laurens and Rocquesells, and includes a small area of ​​1800 hectares of vineyards in total. Since the 90s a continuous change has been happening in Languedoc, and a young generation of winemakers, partly international, are creating a growing number of fine wines now. Faugères is emblematic of this metamorphosis. In our opinion this development is still in its infancy and the tremendous potential offered by the climate and geology of Languedoc has still lots of explorations in the way.