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 grapes that make up this fantastic wine largely come from Jean-Marc Lafage in Roussillon, France, though these are blended with a barrel or two of Domaine of the Bee’s own oak aged reds.
