ALICE Red OLLIEUX ROMANIS 2017
About ten kilometers from Narbonne, in the Boutenac region, on the south / south-east side of the “Pinada” massif, Château Ollieux Romanis has 150 ha of vines, 130 of which are planted in one piece.
The Carignan occupies a prominent place there with 60 hectares (from 50 years to 110 years of age). A plot, still in production, was planted in 1896 in the heart of the Coume Romani (Roman valley) which gave part of its name to the estate.
The C hâteau Ollieux Romanis cellar and barrel cellar, built in 1896 with stones extracted from the estate's quarry, have survived the centuries without taking a wrinkle.
The owner-builders had developed an ingenious system which allowed the harvest to be poured directly into the 14 wooden casks without damaging the grapes, in order to be able to carry out carbonic macerations:
steel wagons, each containing more than 300 kg of grapes, pushed on rails, at the time by horses and today by a tractor, convey the harvest directly from the vine to the cellar. You can see these wagons when visiting the cellar.
The C hâteau Ollieux Romanis range offers a choice of 19 wines, Vins de Pays and Corbières in white, rosé and red, as well as the famous Corbières Boutenac appellation.
In 1978, Jacqueline and François Bories took over the succession to Château Ollieux Romanis, previously owned by Jacqueline's godmother. In 1984, they hired a manager, Jean Pierre Amigues. What follows is a “rescue plan” for the cellar and the vines which will take 4 years all the same.
In 2001, the shortcomings of marketing lead Jacqueline and François to call their eldest son to their side. Pierre therefore abandoned his post at Banque Indosuez earlier than expected to completely restructure the commercial networks.
In 2005, the Boutenac terroir became the first “Cru” of Corbières with one goal, to highlight the Carignan grape variety; September 2006, the Bories family bought the 75 hectares of Château les Ollieux (without having an expansionist policy), thus reuniting, after more than a century, the entire estate.
In January 2009, the last daughter of the Florence family returned to the estate to take care of the lodgings and welcome you to the tasting cellar of the C hâteau Ollieux Romanis.
Cultivated for the moment in reasoned pest management, we work as close as possible to our environment while keeping our freedom vis-a-vis the labels. Weedkillers and pesticides have already been removed for more than 10 years on the whole area. Synthetic chemical fertilizers have not been used for more than 15 years. They have been replaced by compost produced on C hâteau Ollieux Romanis for several years.
Grape varieties: 70% Carignan and 30% Grenache noir.
