Domaine of the Bee was set up and is run by three friends - Justin and Amanda (who launched the company and create the wines), alongside Phillippe (who runs the accountancy and finance side). For all three of them, this business is a side project to other jobs. After a holiday in the Corbieres in 2003, sampling many wines of the area and meeting other winemakers, they completely fell in love with the countryside and wines so decided to start looking for a vineyard. The couple now own 4 hectares of vineyards.
The vineyards of Domaine of the Bee are located deep in Cathar country in Southern France in a glorious wind swept valley that leads from Perpignan to the Pyrenees. The couple have three plots of ancient vines (mostly around 100 years old) close to the village of Maury.
The Maury valley is a fold in a sheet of limestone that was crumpled up when the Iberian peninsula crashed into France, creating the Pyrenees. The walls of the valley are limestone and the floor of the valley is black schist - one of the most sought after soils for fine wines.
All the grapes used for Domaine wines are harvested by hand into small boxes and delivered to the winery door. They are hand sorted and only the healthiest and ripest grapes are selected to make the wine. The grapes are removed from the stalks, gently crushed and are then pumped into the fermentation tanks. The juice and skins are inoculated with selected strains of yeast and fermentation begins. The best parcels of Grenache are fermented in 500L new oak barrels (stood on their ends, with the heads taken out). This technique provides a softer extraction of tannin and colour and gives an oak character. The rest of the Grenache are fermented in stainless steel tanks, as are the Carignan grapes. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is allowed to macerate with the skins of the grapes for a further 2-3 weeks to continue building the tannin extraction and then the finished wine is drained off into barrels.
Domaine of the Bee is the main wine of the vineyard and has been produced every year since 2007. It is generally a 15% alcohol, Grenache / Carignan blend, aged in oak barrels (1/3 new, 1/3 1yo, 1/3 2yo) for 14-18 months before being blended, bottled and shipped.
