A portion of this land used to be a part of the old Laurinya, that was given to the Cuixa Abbey by the King of France in 1068; land which later became the King’s vineyards and which produced some of the wines served at the court of the King of Aragon.

Situated in between Perpignan la Catalane and Thuir (where Byrrh, the wine based apéritif is made) lies the vineyards for each of the terroir expressions of Chateau Lauriga. The Cuvee Bastien is an expression of grapes from selected terriors, hand harvested with limited low yields of 30 hectolitres per hectare from old vines of Syrah, Carignan and Grenache.

Winemaking is a careful blend of the traditional and the modern. Vines were replanted in the 1990s to track the course of the sun for full exposure, equipment is a mix of steel, concrete and wooden vessels with high-tech state of the art devices. The Bastien is no exception, matured for a period in both tank and barrel after various techniques of fermentation including the Carbonic Maceration (for Carignan) which brings a beautifully fruity edge with soft smooth tannins. Marry this with structured spicy and meaty edges from the Syrah and chocolate and dark fruit flavours from the Grenache. The result is a sublimely complex and structured wine.