The Wizard of the Roussillon

Hervé Bizeul arrived in the small village of Vingrau, near Perpignan, seven years ago. Today his wines are very famous and some are sold at a golden price. His leading wine “la Petite Sibérie”, is sold 200 Euros per bottle. Record price and not only in the Roussillon. Anyway there are no more available! “I found by walking one of the lasts or the last great terroir still available. By seeing these vines and these abandoned terraces, I had an emotion. I immediately knew that this soil could produce great wines”, he says. His vine-plants are ploughed like in the past, without chemical fertilizer, with limited production, and a few sulphur… Nothing mysterious ! One of the keys of his success is due to what he does, he wanted to produce the best wines of the world and does not hesitate to sell it at a very expensive price. Another explanation is certainly due to the multiplicity of his talents. He is a good wine taster, he had managed the wine department of a supermarket at Berlin, he had been a paper and TV journalist. There is witchcraft in all this. Here is the proof: one of is vines is named Clos des Fées, and another one Les Sorcières.

2005, March 12 - © Le Figaro Magazine

Other information :
• Languedoc-Roussillon
• Le Clos Des Fées