Domaine de Cébène
A pioneer, a vision, and the Languedoc's most distinctive appellation.
If you drive north from Béziers along the increasingly barren D909, you notice not only that you are virtually alone on the road and that the turn-offs to the last villages of the plain grow ever rarer, but also that a gentle wind begins to make itself felt, brushing across the rolling hills. Beyond Béziers, the landscape opens up—wilder, harsher, quieter. The wind gathers strength and, the further north you push into the first folds of the mountains—towards the Parc Naturel Régional du Haut-Languedoc—it demands your full attention. We arrive in Faugères, surely the most distinctive AOC of the Languedoc. A sparse outpost at the foot of the Cévennes, a jewel to the eye and a pioneer of a finesse in its wines that, at last—after a long Sleeping Beauty slumber and years of insider recommendations—is drawing an ever more international audience. Yet the wind lashes around one’s ears here, day and night, and I find myself wondering how on earth anything manages to grow at all. I have not come to this remote corner by chance. I am visiting Brigitte Chevalier, winemaker and owner of Domaine de Cébène.
Cébène lies almost at the northernmost edge of the appellation, fairly secluded yet strikingly beautiful, at 300 metres above sea level, on schist, beneath the watchful ridge of the Caroux massif. Whoever makes the journey here knows precisely why. Her estate—home, winery and cellar all under one roof—sits enthroned atop a solitary hill, exposed to the elements, and defies the adversities of nature up here with quiet confidence.
“Alors, here is Montpellier, here is Béziers—here is the département of Hérault, and we must be somewhere around here. Here on the map, right next to the bakery. And on the other side of the river you have those high mountains.” The highest peak here carries a legend: they say it is the body of a sleeping goddess. Cebena. When she died, she left her form to the mountain.
Its secret lies in the stones
“When I present Cébène, I begin with three or four criteria: schist, north-facing vines, and the prevailing northerly winds descending from the Parc Naturel Régional du Haut-Languedoc. Most of my vineyards face north. Grenache to the north, Carignan to the north—almost everything to the north. Mourvèdre to the south.”
Faugères stands for Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan. On schist, the wines become more elegant, their tannins gentle. Compared with clay and limestone, schist brings greater suppleness, lightness and subtlety. Brigitte continues: “For me, schist is the perfect foundation for crafting my wines as I like them. The vines must dig deep to reach water. The rain is stored far below for the dry season. The vines suffer no stress in summer. It brings remarkable balance to the vine’s nutrition. It is the sign of good terroir.”
And of course nature plays its part: the ceaseless winds sweeping down from the high plateau dry the plants almost instantly after rain. Pests struggle to settle, and subterranean streams descending from the mountains continuously supply this parched summer landscape with water and nutrients.
When Brigitte chose this place, there were around thirty producers in Faugères; today there are more than fifty. It is a highly dynamic appellation. She worked organically from the outset and swiftly converted to biodynamics. In 2023, Demeter certification followed as a logical consequence.
Led by the heart
“I bought these vines little by little and did everything myself: design, label—everything. I found it interesting to create a link between my wines and the history, the landscape and its femininity.” Sometimes newcomers dig deeper into a region’s past, eager to engage more intensely with a place they have chosen, of their own accord, to call home. “The lines on the labels represent something of that history—or air currents, like the winds up here.”
Brigitte Chevalier comes from Bordeaux, studied foreign languages and spent several years working for the French Embassy in Germany. Later she lived in Zimbabwe for three years. “After that, I wanted to come home. I wanted to follow my roots, to find my place.” The search for the perfect location for her project, however, took time. “Until I had the new cellar, I vinified in the neighbouring village. I bought this hill in 2011; in 2014 I was allowed to build house and cellar; in 2018 everything was finally completed.”
Five Voices, One Origin
Brigitte vinifies all her parcels separately and analyses their qualities in the vineyard itself. For Les Bancels, her benchmark wine, she works, for instance, with around eight different Syrah components. Les Bancels is indeed a benchmark: a terraced single vineyard, perfectly north-facing and utterly beautiful. When she drinks it, she says, she knows she is home—“with both feet on the ground.” For me, Les Bancels may well be the quintessential expression of its origin. It is my “best bet” when, like Brigitte, I want to come home—when I want to know exactly what I am getting. This is a wine I drink during the week, on my own—but also one I would gladly bring to a festive occasion or a serious gathering of wine-loving friends. It is terroir and joy in one.
Around it cluster the other four wines: The overture is Ex Arena. Her first wine. A cuvée of Grenache and Syrah, grown on sandy soils and shaped by sand. I adore Grenache on sand. The wine radiates extraordinary joy, touches me immediately, and is at once light, delicate and vibrant. What fascinates me is how clearly the vintages are reflected: at times cooler, fresher, marked by acidity and therefore tauter; at others warmer, more fruit-driven and fuller in presence. With a little bottle age, the wine transforms again and reveals yet another face. Most impressive of all was a 2009 vintage, cheekily presented blind as an apéritif by Pierre, Brigitte’s partner, which quite literally blew me away. An opening act—and a wine like that? More of this in my cellar, please.
Next comes À la Venvole. Now on schist. Again a cuvée of Grenache, Carignan and Syrah—a first, open glimpse of the Faugères terroir. Brigitte loves J.J. Cale, and so do I, and the song “Call Me the Breeze” describes this wine perfectly. It is rather modern and youthful in style. Lightly chilled, one or two bottles can disappear with ease. Yet first impressions can deceive here too: the wine lingers, possesses as much depth as its predecessor, and expresses its austere origin with striking clarity.
Then: Belle Lurette. Old-vine Carignan. Juicy. “Crafted with irresistible sappidity—the closest connection to my desire for transmission,” Brigitte describes this wine. Belle Lurette bridges classic Faugères and modernity. A true bridge wine, well represented on restaurant wine lists.
The finale is Felgaria. Almost exclusively Mourvèdre. Deep, enveloping, meditative. “Schist enables the tannin of Mourvèdre to soften, to deepen,” Brigitte enthuses. I, too, love Mourvèdre: the way it emerges from the depths, the velvety manner in which it enfolds you, opaque in the glass, impetuous in youth and breathtakingly seductive after several years of bottle age. “Thick, undulating air around you. Like being lost in the dark of night,” Brigitte concludes, rounding off my rapture.
The certainty of making something alive that endures
What also makes the appellation outstanding are its white wines—currently representing a mere four per cent, though the trend is rising. Brigitte is following suit and converted an entire vineyard to white varieties a few years ago. From 2026, a Blanc de Noir from Grenache will appear—presumably under the name À la Venvole Blanc. I am intrigued.
“Since 2019, I have used no wood. Wood allows the wine to breathe—but it also speaks. I want only the schist to speak.” Instead, Brigitte works with stoneware eggs from Limoges and terracotta jars from Italy. Amphorae allow only minimal air exchange. “If I need more, I aerate manually.”
“When I go to bed in the evening, I want to feel that I have helped the earth to regenerate.” She owns ten hectares. Ten hectares allowed to build up mineral matter and vegetation. “I am very proud of that. I try to speak about it as often as possible, to raise awareness—that one is responsible for one’s surroundings and that one can act to make things better. Tell me, which product other than vegetables is still one hundred per cent local? My wines are. Everything I need is here around me, and that delights me. Having chosen this path enriches my life—to have roots and purpose. And perhaps I inspire those who come here or appreciate my wines to implement something of it in their own environment.”
These wines are so fine, so elegant and so beautifully mutable in maturity. They are simply beautiful—and I would argue that Faugères, with its unique geology, its wind and the visionary hands of someone possessed of such passion, is currently producing the finest wines of the Languedoc. So there it is—my renewed declaration of love to this region, its wines and its producers.
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Domaine de Cébène
Route de Caussiniojouls, D154, 34600 Faugères
Buy her wines here