Clos Des Fées
Clos Des Fées

Clos Des Fées

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Clos des Fées is one of the great references of Roussillon wines and IGP Côtes Catalanes. Founded in 1997 in Vingrau by Hervé Bizeul, former Best Young Sommelier of France turned winemaker, it produces across thirty hectares and one hundred and twelve plots spread between Vingrau, Tautavel, Maury and Calce wines from old Roussillon vines of exceptional density and complexity. Its mythical cuvée La Petite Sibérie ranks among the greatest rare wines of Languedoc-Roussillon. Alongside Domaine Gauby and Domaine de Peyre Rose, Clos des Fées embodies the excellence of contemporary Roussillon. Flagship vintages: 2011, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2022.

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Clos des Fées: the birth of a great Roussillon estate

The story of Clos des Fées is one of a bold reinvention pursued with obstinacy. Hervé Bizeul practised three trades before planting his first vines: sommelier — crowned Best Young Sommelier of France at twenty-one —, restaurateur, then journalist for the gastronomic press. It was during his travels in Roussillon that he came across the calcareous cirque of Vingrau, a village lost in the garrigue of the Pyrénées-Orientales, lashed by the tramontane, planted with old Roussillon vines that the village's inhabitants have never known young.

In 1997, he settled with his wife Claudine without a cellar or equipment. His first vintage, in 1998, was vinified in a friend's cellar — the grapes pressed in a muslin cloth. Despite these artisanal conditions, Clos des Fées wines were sold en primeur as early as 1999: a signal of immediately recognised quality. The ascent was meteoric. Within a few years, Clos des Fées established itself as one of the great estates of Roussillon, exporting its Roussillon red wines worldwide and becoming — alongside Domaine Gauby in Calce — one of the two addresses that definitively established the international credibility of IGP Côtes Catalanes.

The terroirs of the Clos des Fées estate

What makes Clos des Fées unique in the landscape of Roussillon wines is the breadth and diversity of its plot-by-plot implantation. Thirty hectares spread across seven communes — Vingrau, Tautavel, Maury, Calce — a terroir shared with Domaine Gauby and Domaine Matassa —, Lesquerde, Opoul and Espira de l'Agly. A geological mosaic that specialists compare to that of Alsace or Madagascar.

In Vingrau, vines planted in pockets of pure clay amid calcareous scree produce age-worthy Roussillon wines with virtually unlimited ageing potential. In Tautavel, red clay soils with rounded pebbles — close to the terroirs of Châteauneuf-du-Pape — give Mourvèdre exceptional concentration. In Maury, black schist is the kingdom of old-vine Grenache noir. In Lesquerde, granitic gneiss imparts an inimitable graphite minerality to Syrah. In Opoul, a limestone plateau swept by the winds shelters century-old Grenache blanc vines.

Old vines and sustainable viticulture: the method of Clos des Fées

Faced with the diversity of his terroirs, Hervé Bizeul structured his approach around three principles he summarises as "three Vs": Vieux (Old), Village and Vingrau. Working exclusively with old vines from Roussillon — average age fifty years, some reaching a century — sourced from specific villages, on this exceptional terroir. At these ages, yields are naturally very low and the concentration of the grapes naturally very high: this is the very foundation of the old-vine wines from the Côtes Catalanes that the estate has been producing since its beginnings.

Harvesting is entirely manual. In the cellar, vinifications aim to preserve the expression of each terroir: gentle macerations, ageing in tank or barrel depending on the cuvée, with a proportion of new oak progressively reduced over the vintages to give more room to fruit and minerality. The result is a range of great Roussillon red wines with aromas of ripe black fruits, liquorice, spices and garrigue, with silky tannins and a freshness on the finish that guarantees their ability to age for ten to twenty years.

La Petite Sibérie and the cult cuvées of Clos des Fées

Among all the cuvées of Clos des Fées, it is La Petite Sibérie that best embodies the singularity of the estate. This micro-cuvée was born almost by accident in 2001: Hervé Bizeul harvested last a small plot of old Grenache noir and found himself without an available tank. He vinified in plastic containers. The result — of an unexpected texture, complexity and length — revealed to him that he had something exceptional on his hands. The plot, lashed by icy winds two hundred days a year, owes its name to this harsh and austere climate. It is today one of the most sought-after wines of Roussillon.

The Vieilles Vignes and Le Clos des Fées cuvées form the accessible pillars of the estate — the best entry points into the world of age-worthy Côtes du Roussillon Villages wines. The single-plot cuvées Un Faune with its "Fifre" and "De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté" push the logic of terroir expression even further, with intense profiles destined for the most discerning Roussillon wine enthusiasts.

Clos des Fées in the landscape of the greater Roussillon

In the Roussillon vineyard, Clos des Fées holds a unique place: that of the estate which, through its ambition and international visibility, helped change the way the entire region is perceived. When Hervé Bizeul settled in Vingrau in the late 1990s, Roussillon was still associated with négociant wines. His energy and the swift quality of his wines opened a breach into which an entire generation rushed.

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