La Terrasse d'Elise
The Domaine of “La Terrasse d’Elise” was started in 1998 by Xavier Braujou. Xavier is a young winemaker who was trained at the famous “Mas de Daumas Gassac” in Aniane as well as in Alsace.
The 10 hectares Domaine is named after his father’s aunt, Elise, and the top cuvée, from Syrah, is named in her honour. Xavier treats his vines and the wine as naturally as possible, with minimum treatments in the vineyards. No finings, no natural yeasts and very little sulphur are used in the winemaking process.
Although most of Xavier’s vineyard is within the Appellation, all his wines are labelled as “Vin de Pays” or “Vin de Table” in order to allow him to express the character of each grape variety and of each terroir. He is one of the last vignerons to graft his own vines in the vineyard, allowing him to continue a “sélection massale”, choosing the vine stocks from within his own domaine, without any clonal vines.
Within a few years, Xavier’s wines have reached acknowledgement of all the experts. The cuvee Pradel was elected as one of the 200 best Vin de Pays by the French national newspaper "Le Figaro".
