We came across Sophie Guiraudon through Emmanuel Delmas the former sommelier at Guy Savoy, La Tour d’Argent, Alain Ducasse and Laserre, now an independent consultant. Sophie calls herself a winemaker from “0” generations. She started Clos de l’Anhel with the support of Philippe Mathias. Their first vintage at Clos l’Anhel was 2000. He was and still is the manager or régisseur at Château Pech Latt, a nearby Corbières estate, but is no longer involved with Clos de l’Anhel. They took over six hectares from a coop member, with vines in the villages of Ribaute and Lagrasse, and converted them to organic viticulture. Sophie’s first solo vintage was in 2009 and she now has 25 acres.
She studied oenology at Toulouse, and worked at the Dubernet laboratory in Narbonne, but she really wanted to do her own thing, to follow the entire viticultural cycle, and in the cellar, and not have a boss. For the moment she only has red grape varieties. Her vineyard ranges from 6 to 65 years old. 100% of the grapes from Clos de l’Anhel are organic and hand harvested. The altitude combined with a great passion for wine making craft unique cuvees that have a refreshing yet soft acidity as well as a persistant red berry fruit flavor.
