Puissalicon, a feudal village in Languedoc-Roussillon, at the edge of the Cévennes, is home to Domaine la Croix Belle, an estate that has been owned by Boyer family for over two centuries.  Here, Domaine la Croix Belle’s 110 hectares of vineyards produce around 750,000 bottles per year.  The vines love the soil here, and their roots enjoy a perfect mix of clay, limestone, gravel, alluvium and pebbles, while the grapes are able to ripen fully in the Languedoc sunshine.  The resulting wines are astonishingly harmonious, balanced and thoroughly charming.  The vines thrive in the abundant sunshine, tempered by the sea breeze and the night winds of the Cévennes, mainly the Mistral and Tramontane.  In 1977, already convinced of their region’s rich terroir, Jacques and Françoise Boyer were not content to only pursue operation of the family wine estate, but to make a radical shift to strive for quality above all; this made them part of what drove today’s renewal in Languedoc winegrowing.  The first step called for replanting the vineyard, continually improving the winegrowing techniques inherited from earlier generations, and seriously reducing yield to harvest healthy, concentrated grapes for wines with character. Simultaneously, the cellars were gradually transformed, adapted and equipped to permit and develop vinification methods to best express our terroir’s potential and our passion as winegrowers.

website: www.croix-belle.com