Cabardes

Cabardes is a relatively small appellation for the red and rosé wines produced in the hills just north of Carcassonne, southern France. The appellation was introduced in 1999, to represent and ensure the quality of the wines, which have been produced here since Roman times.

The Cabardès catchment area, located in the Montagne Noire foothills, lies on the border between Languedoc-Roussillon and France’s Sud Ouest region. This split identity is manifested in the grape varieties which make up the appellation’s wines: Grenache and Syrah from the south and east of France; Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the south-west and Bordeaux. The result is some unusual and distinctive rich red wines.

Most of the wines made under the appellation are red, but a small quantity of rosés is also produced. These are typically intensely flavored, characterful wines, dry in style and produced by the saignée method. This involves the separation, or ‘bleeding’, of lightly macerated free-run juice from recently crushed dark-skinned grapes. The rosé wine which is ‘bled out’ (saignée in French) is more often than not a by-product – the intention being to concentrate the original red wine, rather than to produce a rosé wine.