Le Petit Domaine Cybèle Mead

Winemaker: Aurélien Petit

Appellation: Pays d'Hérault, Languedoc, France

Grape Varieties: Lavender Honey

This mead was made by taking lavender honey made by a friend of Aurélien’s on the Valensole Plateau in Provence and diluting it in water from an underground source in Aurélien’s village of Montpeyroux in Languedoc. Aurélien then adds less than 1% of white grape must to get the fermentation going. The fermentation typically last 3 to 4 weeks. The mead is not filtered nor fined, and no sulfites are added at any stage. This mead would pair well with many different desserts, but also with foie gras or a cheese course. It works especially well with hard goat cheese.

Aurélien operates a small (petit!) domaine around the town of Montpeyroux in Languedoc that is split into several small parcels, which total just over 11 acres (4.5 hectares).

Aurélien prefers to do all of the work manually in the vines and in the rare case of needing mechanical intervention, he limits the use of machinery to working the soil. Harvesting and sorting the grapes is done by hand. Only indigenous yeasts are used during fermentation and the wines are neither fined nor filtered.

The red grape varieties found here are typical of the south of France, in that he uses Carignan, Syrah, and Grenache. His white wines use Grenache Blanc, Chenin Blanc ( which is a rarity in this region), and also Terret-Bourret, a once common grape variety in Languedoc that is hardly grown anywhere else.

Aurélien's goal is to create wines that are fresh, full of fruit, and very drinkable. To him, a good wine is one that we want to drink, and then drink again, and it is this maxim that guides him in his winemaking!