Before settling down amid the vines, walls and soil of the Clos des Fées, Hervé Bizeul's peregrinations had been many, flitting around the wine business and the world in general. As a sommelier, as a journalist… but most of all, as a son of this hard ground, with a real pride in Roussillon. It was one day in the late 1990s, looking out onto this desert of scrubland, with its dry stone walls and vines planted in pick-hacked holes amid the green oaks with their twisted branches, that he decided to take his passion for wine to its logical extreme by becoming a wine grower himself. Thanks to his hard work in the vines – but also through his formidable enthusiasm for selling and promoting his wine with a talent for forging links that is somewhat uncommon among growers, who enjoy the solitary company of their vines and can be uneasy with commercial relationships – Bizeul would be quick to find success. And this success would enable him to live comfortably and develop his domain by expanding it through the purchase of parcels of land (both already planted and awaiting plantation), hiring workers, buying increasingly advanced equipment and continuing to tour the wine shows of France and the world, proudly flying the flag of his own wines as well as all the others in his region. But if you think Hervé Bizeul has retired his pen, then think again: today, he is among the most prolific contributors to be found in the blogosphere.

"Vieilles Vignes" is without doubt the property's most representative wine, which gives an indication of the potential of Vingrau's terroir, and of the winegrower working it. If you want to know what the two together are capable of, this should be your first choice. It consists of a blend of the property's oldest vines (from 50 to 100 years old), mainly planted on fine clay-limestone hillsides. The wine is aged in barrels that have held one, two or three wines for 60% of the total volume, and the rest in concrete vats.