Château de Caraguilhes - Corbières - Solus White 2024

"The Boutenac terroir is famous for its red wines, but Château de Caraguilhes presents a white wine here that pairs beautifully with food. Its blend of Grenache Blanc and Roussanne, part of which is aged in barrels, gives it a lovely complexity with woody, mineral, and yellow fruit notes. On the palate, it is powerful and charming, retaining great delicacy with floral and herbal (fennel) notes." — Gault & Millau.

Solus Blanc is Château de Caraguilhes’s white wine of absolute prestige — the white counterpart to Solus Rouge, born of the same winemaking philosophy: the estate’s finest white vineyard plot, vinified separately with the utmost care and precision. Its Latin name—Solus, “alone”—says it all: a unique plot, a singular expression, a wine that stands apart in the estate’s range.

Château de Caraguilhes is located in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse on the prestigious Boutenac terroir. A pioneer of organic farming in the Languedoc since 1987 and a member of Biodyvin and Demeter since 2020, the estate cultivates 135 hectares of vineyards within 500 hectares of preserved garrigue. Pierre Gabison, owner since 2005, continues the commitment established by Lionel Faivre in 1958. Bettane & Desseauve 2 stars. "Practicing organic viticulture is our obsession. We let our soils and vines express themselves naturally through each vintage."

The Solus Blanc plot—the "Champ du Château" — is the most prized and closest to the château, situated at an altitude of 150–200 meters in the heart of the Boutenac terroir. The altitude provides nighttime coolness and a greater temperature range than at the bottom of the hillside—ideal conditions for preserving the natural acidity and tension of Mediterranean white grape varieties despite the heat of the Languedoc. The clay-limestone soils mixed with rounded Miocene pebbles give the wine its characteristic minerality and texture.

The blend combines Grenache Blanc (65%)—generous, round, and lively—and Roussanne (35%)—complex, long, notes of stone fruit and candied lemon. The winemaking process is the estate’s most elaborate for its whites: spontaneous fermentation in oak demi-muids, aged for 9 months on fine lees—a patient process that builds the richness, texture, and complexity characteristic of Solus Blanc. 2024 is a vintage marked by a lovely freshness preserved thanks to harvests carried out partly at night and dates precisely chosen plot by plot.

The 2024 vintage presents a luminous pale gold color with brilliant highlights. The nose is complex and very precise—candied lemon, pink grapefruit, delicate white flowers, a touch of fennel characteristic of the estate, and subtle woody notes that add depth. The palate is both lively and generous—round and fresh, carried by beautiful natural acidity and a minerality that gradually builds toward a long, pure, and persistent finish. "A sublime expression of the Boutenac terroir—a great Languedoc white to cellar."

Serve at 12°C; open 1 hour before serving. Pairings: lobster salad with grapefruit, scallops au gratin, sea bass with beurre blanc, sole with wild mushrooms, foie gras with quince jelly, white meats in creamy sauce, aged sheep’s milk cheeses. Aging potential: 5 years minimum.

Discover all the vintages of the Château de Caraguilhes.