A Family
Adventure

Pierre and Jacqueline CHAMAYRAC both come from families with a strong winegrowing tradition and decided to sell the drugstore they ran together in the village of Fleury, to buy the Château Mire l'Etang and start growing vines and producing wines, which were sold exclusively in bulk at the time.

From their second harvest, aware of the potential of their production, Pierre and Jacqueline began bottling by hand their first cuvée. They were among the first to produce bottled wines in the Clape and Aude regions.

Meeting a certain success with local customers, tourists and with a view to developing direct sales, Pierre and Jacqueline decided to open a tasting and sales cellar at the estate. Still in operation today, it is the oldest wine cellar in La Clape.

Wishing to diversify their offer and facilitate the vinification of white and rosé wines, while increasing their storage capacity, they built an extension to the historic cellar in which they installed steel vats, filtration and bottling equipment.

Under the encouragement of their son Philippe, who had already been working on the estate for several years, they invested in barrels to bring out the best from the grapes of the finest plots, giving birth to the estate's first oak-aged red wine, the emblematic Cuvée des Ducs de Fleury.

As part of their strategy to restructure the vineyard, they decided to clear a 12-hectare block of garrigue on the heights of the estate, on the Bouisset plateau. Here, they planted grape varieties suited to this virgin, very stony terroir, which is perfectly exposed and suited to the production of great Languedoc red wines.

Thanks to a growing reputation and the development of export markets, the construction of a barrel cellar and a new extension became necessary. Pierre and Philippe, who are winegrowers but above all multi-skilled, built the new building themselves, with the help of one of their employees.

After 24 years at the head of the estate, including 15 working alongside their eldest son, Pierre and Jacqueline decided to hand over management of the property to Philippe, who became the second generation of winegrowers in the Chamayrac family.

Philippe's younger brother, Bernard, joins the family business and goes into partnership with his brother, after a successful career in the national gendarmerie. He took over local marketing and distribution, as well as developing direct sales.