Domaine Paul Meunier

Centernach

Rather than at the family estate of his native Burgundy, Paul Meunier went to Agly Valley in Roussillon to establish his career as a winegrower. Paul and Lucile created the estate in 2014 with the purchase of the former municipal cooperative. Now managing 10ha of vineyards, vines range 30 to over 100 years in the communes of Maury, Saint Paul de Fenouillet, Saint Arnac (Centernach), and Lesquerde. This gives him a diverse terroir of black schist, granite, and clay-limestone soils. Vineyards are farmed organically with some biodynamic principles incorporated and Paul’s sister, Perrine, also helps with the assistance of a horse to plow some vineyards. Using concrete vats, eggs, ceramic amphora, and old oak barrels, grapes are vinified and matured per parcel to keep the focus on terroir. The resulting wines are wonderful, fresh, refined, and savoury terroir. On an interesting side note, Napoleon disapproved of the Occitan language and renamed Centernach to Saint Arnac. Paul points out that there is no such Saint. In French, the word, ‘arnaque’, means ‘a scam’. Paul prefers to use the original spelling.