Isabelle Champart has been crafting some of the cleanest yet most soulful wines in the Languedoc for more than a decade. Isabelle and Mathieu Champart represent much of what is right and good in the wine business. They're talented, industrious, modest, and totally devoted to what they do. When asked by a visitor if they had children, Isabelle swept her hand across the outside of their winery and answered immediately, "Look around. This is my child. Isabelle and Mathieu Champart were relatively new to winegrowing when they first took over Domaine Bramefan (as her family's farm is also known), in Saint-Chinian in 1976. For nearly twelve years they sold their grapes to the local cooperative. Though they waited until 1988 to bottle under their own label, they won almost instant acclaim and have become the standard against which other producers in the appellation have been measured ever since. They live among their old vines on a gentle slope and have slowly started integrating more organic practices into their farming.

Mathieu tends to the vines, and Isabelle makes the wines-that their home is surrounded by their vineyards makes their division of labor all the more poetic. The Champarts have made significant changes to their business over the years. While the domaine started from just a simple, humble, stone farmhouse, they later added a winery and have expanded the holdings from eight to twenty-five hectares (sixteen of which are consecrated to vineyards, the remaining nine to arable crops and orchards). The terroir here is a patchwork of soils: steep slopes of clay and limestone (Mourv�dre), brightly colored marl (Carignan & Syrah), limestone (Syrah & Grenache) and lower slopes of clay and sandstone (Cabernet Franc). They live among their old vines on a gentle slope and have slowly started integrating more organic practices into their farming.  

We just opened a bottle and its full of bright fruit from raspberries and currants with mouthwatering crisp texture and begs for a second, third sip...Cabernet Franc and Syrah! Delish! 

Bottle $20 

6btls $14

12 Bottles $12.50