Collection: Domaine de L'Oustal Blanc

Isabel Cardoso-Fonquerle was born in Guinea-Bissau, a Portuguese-speaking West African country of unspoiled beauty, where cashews, yams, cassava, sweet potatoes and tropical fruits are harvested ... but who knows nothing about the culture of the vine.

In 1998, in Paris where she had settled, Isabel met the complex world of wine during a seasonal job at Lafayette Gourmet, a Mecca for the French art of living. What should only have been a summer job became a vocation when the great sommelier Bruno Quenioux, asked her to join his team.

This is when her training begins, she will stay there for 4 years.

In 2002 with Claude Fonquerle (trained in Chateauneuf-du-Pape) Isabel created an estate located in La Livinière, 1er Cru du Languedoc, in Minervois. Isabel stared a training as an operation manager (viticulture, oenology, winemaking, trade, administration).

Today on the 8 ha of the estate, which she manages alone, Isabel farm  her native vines naturally under the biodynamic philosophy. She makes beautiful and refined wines which are the reflection of an exceptional terroir as much as the expression of a woman with a strong personality.

 

A label full of meaning:

The triangle is a symbol of stability, which is sought in the vineyard and wine making process.

Towards the top and in the middle, you will find the vortex of passing time, to the left the lunar calendar, the winegrower's hand as well as the arches of the 12th century Romanesque church at La Livinière.

Above, the goddess Minerva, where the name of the Minervois appellation comes from. Minerva is a deity of Roman mythology, the goddess among others of wisdom, strategy, intelligence, high thought, letters, arts, music and patron saint of craftsmen