It was quite a search to find the domain La Colombette. It appears that we have passed by the winery a couple of times. Well, if you drop a plate with about 500m on your left and it turns out to be after 20 meters on your right hand, then you should not be surprised if we come a little later than expected. Fortunately Vincent Pugilet, who is in management with his brother François, is so kind to pick us up.

Grandfather can be proud
Vincent says that his grandfather received a hectare of land before his marriage to grow wine. Since then, every generation, the company expanded. The tasting room was once the wine cellar, which is still visible to the partly concrete, partly wooden barrels. It provides the necessary atmosphere. When we enter the 'wine cellar', we see that La Colombette has become a company of size. Grandfather can be proud. Behind the huge room with wooden barrels and steel tanks, is still a warehouse for all stocks of export and even more wooden barrels, bottling machines and a very special device.

Entire range of wines
Vincent appears to be an engineer and has built its own machine which extracts  the alcohol from the wine. Normally the wines have an alcohol percentage of 14 to 15 percent and with this machine they have only 12.5 percent. A novelty that is used nowhere else. During our visit a buyer for a Swedish supermarket chain comes along. She rather liked the wines with lower alcohol content. La Colombette also have an entire range of wines with only 9 percent. The lady likes to drink this wine at  lunchtime. "You easily can continue to work," she indicates. Or for women who Dieting. We found the wine pretty good but a bit too light and prefer the ones with 12.5 percent. There are really good ones to drink.

Irrigation system
Vincent also takes us into the vineyards where he personally arranged an intelligent  irrigation system which supplies the plants with the right dosage of drops of water . He also tells a lot about organic growing methods and the different soil types on which he grows white and red grapes.

The visit was well worth the search. It is advisable to call in advance for a tour as it will not always be possible. Although the Rosé and Sauvignon Blanc were more than fine. Our choice was focused on the Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Llodoner Pelut 2006 (excellent).