Carcassonne’s fortifications provide the perfect vantage point for gazing over the wine country that peacefully encircles the city, with Malepère bordering to the west, Minervois and Corbières to the east, and to the south, the foothills of the Pyrenees. Firmly embedded within its history, Carcassonne is a jewel of the Languedoc, and has duly been granted World Heritage status. Pierre grew up between the modern city (lower town) and the citadel (higher town), a playground full of wonder and mystery for the “young lad from the citadel” who even back then would taste wine off the tip of his finger. It is here, at the base of these battlements, in the Occitan and Cathartic stronghold of yesteryear, in this once austere and rebellious wine country, that he chose to craft his first cuvées. This decision wasn’t by chance; his great- grandfather, grandfather and now his father have, over the course of the harvests, forged inseparable links with the region’s vineyards.