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Nestled in the rocky and wild hills of the Hautes Corbières, the Sainte Croix estate is located in the town of Fraïssé des Corbières, a small village in the south of France, on the border between Languedoc and Roussillon, 20 minutes from the Mediterranean Sea. Steel-blue limestone, quartz clays or green and purple schist sheets make up the 13 hectares of a complex terroir. These vines benefit from a pronounced mesoclimate in which maritime influences mingle with those of the hinterland, drier and warmer. This gives red, rosé and white wines with a strong personality, a mixture of concentration and elegance.

There are many points in common with Roussillon, which is so close (a valley further south). In this region, the local patois has its origins in Occitan, more than French. The Grenaches have been famous there for a long time; today, these same vines are cultivated, sheltered by its old golden stone walls, lined with fig trees, almond trees and guigniers.

The Sainte Croix estate is run by Jon and Elizabeth Bowen, both of English origin. They have built up their experience in old French cellars, in oversized ‘wineries' — a kingdom of stainless steel — all over the world of wine. From the first look at this ‘little corner', with its complex and rich geology and such a particular climate, their professional intuition left no doubt about the potential of this terroir.