Vinification
Grapes from the vineyards of the domain only, organically grown. The upper valley of the Aude benefits from an ideal climate, thanks to its altitude and proximity to the Pyrenees, allowing the grapes to obtain a perfect balance between acidity and fruitiness.
Pressing of whole grapes and selection of first-run juice only. Fermentation in vats then mixing of wine from the reserve kept in oak barrels (old wood).
Second fermentation in bottles and ageing with lees in piles for at least 3 years (traditional method). This wine receives a small dose of around 5 g of sugar per litre maximum.
J.L. Denois
In 1979 when he was 22, Jean-Louis Denois, at least the 6th generation of a Champagne family, decided to do his own thing. After studying winemaking in Beaune and business in Reims, and being head-hunted by South African winery Boschendal, adventure beckoned in the Cape wine-lands where he helped make the first ‘Cap Classique’ sparkling wines.
He carried on down this road, which led him to Limoux in the south de France, another area long known for sparkling wine production and where he’d find quality grapes in noble Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Jean-Louis has always been close to and loved vines and learned how to treat them with respect from an early age, and always wanted to make his own wine from his own vines. This ambition to live from the quality of his vineyard would end up sooner or later, after a time high-flying and
You can already feel the cool influence of Atlantic weather in the upper Aude Valley, just in the Pyrenees foothills on the Languedoc’s southwestern fringes, with nothing in its way until the Corbières hills.
This cool climate zone is what Jean-Louis Denois was looking for in the Languedoc, when he bought his first Pinot Noir vines in Roquetaillade in 1988, followed by 15 ha of Chardonnay at 400-500m altitude in 1989 to create a Burgundy-style vineyard: Pinot Noir for red wines and Chardonnay for whites (with similar conditions to their Burgundy homeland) with a racy edge that’s rare in the Languedoc Roussillon and at a level never seen before in the south of France, which became the iconic Domaine de l’Aigle.