La Terrasse d'Elise
La Terrasse d'Elise
【Elegance and passion distilled, a mirror held up to the terroir】
Xavier Braujou founded Domaine La Terrasse d'Elise in 1998 on the fine terroir of Aniane. He began with barely half a hectare and has since grown to around ten, planted with Carignan, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Cinsault.
Through sheer work and passion he has assembled everything needed to make honest wine faithful to its place. Every cuvée at La Terrasse d'Elise comes from hand-harvested fruit at very low yields — a mere 20 to 25 hl/ha — and is intensely concentrated as a result, while in the cellar intervention is kept to the barest minimum.
These wines are known for a finesse, elegance, suppleness, freshness, consistency and aromatic generosity that are exceptional for the region. All are labelled IGP Hérault, yet every one asserts the identity of its terroir, and some are single-varietal bottlings that draw out everything the grape has to give.
If a wine is judged not yet ready to drink, Xavier will hold it back — sometimes for years — until it can leave the cellar as the wine it deserves to be.
Ageing takes place in old barrels or in stainless steel, the better to keep the tannins refined. His wines fill the mouth with supple fruit and a rich, clean flavour that wins drinkers over at once. He holds no certification, but he farms organically and biodynamically.
