Karine and Nicolas Mirouze farm 25 hectares of vines set inside the 350-hectare expanse of the Parc Naturel Régional de la Narbonnaise, where garrigue, wild herbs and pine perfume the grapes long before they reach the cellar.
Backstory
The estate has belonged to the Mirouze family since 1881. For generations the property sold most of its grapes to local négociants. That changed in 2000, when Karine and Nicolas took over as the eighth generation of growers on the land near Bizanet in the Aude. They began a painstaking conversion to organic and, later, biodynamic viticulture, and started bottling under their own name. Today the estate runs two parallel ranges: the classic Château Beauregard-Mirouze wines and a more personal, lower-intervention line under the Karine & Nicolas Mirouze label.
The Region
Corbières sits in the heart of the Languedoc, at the edge of Cathar country between Narbonne and Carcassonne. The hilly, sun-drenched terrain and Mediterranean climate suit late-ripening southern varieties, while sea breezes and altitude help preserve freshness. The garrigue scrubland that surrounds the vines lends the wines their distinctive aromatic lift.
Vineyards & Farming
The 25 hectares of vines fold into rolling countryside ringed by wild Mediterranean flora. The estate earned organic certification in 2010 and has farmed biodynamically since 2018, with biodynamic certification following in 2019. A flock of 50 sheep grazes the vineyards from November through April, cover crops are sown in September, and compost is produced on site. The team limits tractor passes during the growing season to protect soil structure and life.
Winemaking
All grapes are hand-harvested. Fermentations run on indigenous yeasts, and the AOC Corbières wines are vinified without additives. Sulfites are used minimally, added only at bottling and only when judged necessary rather than as a matter of routine. The natural cuvées push further still: RouZe, the first of their "Ouze" line, blends roughly 70 percent Cinsault with Grenache and Carignan, ferments spontaneously, and is bottled unfined, unfiltered and with under 10mg of sulfur.
The Wines
The range spans red, rosé and white wines under both the Corbières AOC and the Vin de France category. The estate works with a wide palette of varieties, including Carignan, Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Merlot and Mourvèdre among the reds, and Roussanne, Marsanne, Vermentino and Viognier among the whites. The house Campana bottlings (white, red and rosé) take their name from the Occitan word for the bell above the main house. The estate cuvées Sol, a concentrated Syrah and Mourvèdre blend, and Ciel, a lighter, more aerial wine led by Syrah and Carignan, show two contrasting faces of the same terroir.
