Domaine Pugibet

The love of wine - Domaine La Colombette

In 1890, Louis Pugibet, a blacksmith by trade, married the daughter of a winegrower. As a dowry, she brought one hectare of vineyard into the new marriage, which was soon extended to include the neighbouring property, thus laying the foundation stone for Domaine La Colombette, the family's wine estate. 

The marriage produced a daughter and a son, who was born 18 years later and thus nicknamed "Petit Louis". Louis, who was also not physically tall, later built the manor house and cellar and maintained the estate, in a not very easy period marked by the two world wars.

The great change

In 1966, François, the current owner, took over La Colombette and thus Domaine Pugibet. Instead of accepting subsidies and focusing his business on mass, he preferred to concentrate on quality, as he saw greater opportunities in the market. He was eager to experiment and planted untypical grape varieties for the Languedoc:

• Grenache
• Syrah
• Chardonnay
• Sauvignon Blanc

The mechanization of the farm also progressed, so for the first 7 years he still used the horse for transport tasks, before he was able to buy his first tractor. According to his own statement, he does not miss the "natural" times very much. However, the pioneering work did not go smoothly, François often clashed with the French authorities because of his drive.

However, his passion was rewarded, so he built up a large customer base and won the "Chardonnays of the World" competition twice, beating even renowned wineries from Burgundy. These successes earned him the nickname "Devil of Chardonnay", a name he is secretly somewhat proud of. 

The latest achievements at Domaine La Colombette

In 1997, son Vincent finally joined the winery, equipped with an engineering degree to continue modernizing. The estate is constantly expanding with new vineyards. François' latest hobbyhorse is the development of resistant grape varieties in order to make the use of copper and sulfur in the vineyard unnecessary, thus facilitating the cultivation of organic wines. 

The Pugibet family portfolio is very broad. Besides the classic red, white and rosé wines, Domaine La Colombette also offers organic wines, so-called "super organic wines" from their resistant own varieties, but also non-alcoholic wines. 

The Plume wines are an attempt to counteract the development of increasingly heavy, alcoholic wines. This series has an alcohol content of just 9%.