Our cooperative was created in 1921 and since then has continued in its quest for quality and perfection. Being innovative and audacious we move forwards with the times but always outside the box of which we are very proud.
Fifty years ago, a choice was made. A bold gamble — one of daring and of taste. The choice of a cellar that rejects blandness and embraces excellence.
Since then, nothing has changed. Nothing, except the tireless pursuit of vibrant, pure wines — wines that carry the essence of their land and the whisper of the wind that brushes them. Here, the vine is more than a crop; it is a language. Every plot tells a story, every cluster of grapes bears the imprint of the seasons and the sun that nourishes it.
Patience, precision, intuition. Through meticulous sorting, finely tuned vinification, and an unwavering refusal to compromise, five distinct ranges have emerged — alive, unique, and free. Wines with character that challenge convention and reinvent the emotion of a single sip.
Les Remarquables
These are the top three of the cellar, known and trusted by our loyal clients for a long time.We have been maturing wine in oak since the eighties, beginning with Pompadour, our “trademark”.The wines come from the best of our vineyards. Some vines, nearly 100 years old, are planted on our hillside slopes. Winemaking is precise and sharp and the wine is then aged for 12 months in French oak barrels.
Une Autre Route
Wines are bottled early without oak ageing and stacked for two years in our cellar. This process allows us from the start of fermentation to capture the volatile aromas. Time will then bring complexity and a soft evolution of the tannins.
L’Esprit du vent
Each grape harvest has its own character. This range, the ephemeral wines of Castelmaure, a successful concept which has existed now for more than 10 years. These wines are releasedevery year in mid-June and are celebrated like the birth of Summer! These wines are a pure expression of the last vintage, one being bolder and predominantly Carignan, the other one being softer and predominantly grenache!
Les fondamentaux
Les Fondamentaux, C’est un retour aux sources de Castelmaure, des vins sur le fruit, intenses et gourmands, déclinés en Rouge, Blanc, Rosé et un Ancien qui est assemblé de vieux millésimes. Cette gamme non passée en fûts respecte la tradition de Castelmaure, sa vendange manuelle, sa macération carbonique et son Carignan pour les rouges.
Horizon
Our winemakers have loved and celebrated their land since time immemorial (at least 100 years). Today, they have come together to harmonize their strengths and convictions and present a truly genuine, honest, and pure range here (100% organic). These blends transport us to remote areas where nature reigns supreme, where nature is everything.
They are around 60 winegrowers working at the cooperative. The vineyard is cultivated with family since many generations.
La coopérative de
c’est…
A CENTURY OF PASSION
Since 1921, the cellar has stood watch, unchanging, at the heart of the village. Rooted in stone and time, it shelters the heartbeat of a savoir-faire passed down through generations — a living memory etched into the century-old concrete of its vats. There, within this noble, mineral stillness, slow and profound macerations are born, where wine is forged with soul.
In the late 1970s, inspired by visionary oenologist Marc Dubernet, we embraced a simple yet essential truth: carbonic maceration of Carignan. Whole grape clusters, untouched, free to unfold at their own rhythm. It took just one vintage for the revelation to take hold — wines full of indulgence, with a silky, caressing roundness.
To this day, that method remains our signature, our faithful imprint. No machines here. Every cluster is picked by hand, carried with care in traditional baskets, just as it was in the past. This choice is no relic — it is a promise: to preserve our oldest parcels, clinging to the hillsides like guardians of time, where mechanization would have left only silence and loss.
These are the values we’ve held for 100 years… if not more.
Hand picking all our grapes is the key to our quality.
Once harvested, the grapes are carried in small crates, and mechanically raised above the tanks. They are then moved by gravity to the fermentation vat to undergo carbonic maceration. Using this process, the grapes are not damaged or crushed from the field to the tank. They remain intact up until inside the vat, rendering the best of their fruit.
Castelmaure has always worked with the environment, harvest is 100 % handpicked. We already have the High Environmental Value certification for half of the vineyard, reducing treatments in the vineyards to a minimum. Also, nearly a third of the vineyard is on its way to being organic.
Encircled with stones and rocks, Embres-et-Castelmaure nestles deep in the Corbières, between scrubland and maquis. There are two roads leading to the village, on the border of France and the ancient country of Aragon, at the feet of the Pyrenees mountains.
And the other side of the mountain range lies the Mediterranean Sea.
In the middle of vineyards one finds the ruins of a castle which has given us our name, Castelmaure. And following the path lined with the wise Montpellier Maple trees we come to the romane chapel, St Felix, surrounded by pointed cypres and green oaks.
Hand picking all our grapes is the key to our quality. Once harvested, the grapes are carried in small crates, and mechanically raised above the tanks. They are then moved by gravity to the fermentation vat to undergo carbonic maceration. Using this process, the grapes are not damaged or crushed from the field to the tank. They remain intact up until inside the vat, rendering the best of their fruit.
Castelmaure has always worked with the environment, harvest is 100 % handpicked. We already have the High Environmental Value certification for half of the vineyard, reducing treatments in the vineyards to a minimum. Also, nearly a third of the vineyard is on its way to being organic.
In 1985, Castelmaure signed a commercial partnership with maison Jeanjean. A famous winegrower and distributor from the south of France. The winery is vinifying a specific range of wine exclusively distributed by Jeanjean to supermarkets and export.
You will find in this portfolio, very fruity wines like the Castelmaure red and rosé, in bottle or in Bag in Box, original wines like “les deux crêtes” but also serious wines aged in oak or wooden vat like les Hauts de Castelmaure or l’Extrême.
