Winegrower at La Livinière
Isabel Fonquerle, winegrower at La Livinière
offers you refined wines produced in its domain, for tasting and sale.
From Guinée-Bussau to Minervois, amazing Isabel’s destiny
Isabel Cardoso-Fonquerle was born in Guinea-Bissau, a Lusophone West African country of stunning beauty, where cashew nuts, yams, cassava, sweet potatoes, and tropical fruits are harvested … but where she grew up knowing nothing about the cultivation of the vine. The only grapes that Isabel had seen in her childhood were in the form of pretty earrings that her mother gave to her for her 15th birthday.
Trained at Lafayette Gourmet
A sign, an omen ? Many years later, in 1998, in Paris where she had established herself, Isabel encountered the complex world of wine with a seasonal job at Lafayette Gourmet, a high place for the French art de vivre. What was supposed to be only a summer job blossomed into a vocation, after Bruno Quenioux, a great sommelier, offered her to join his team.
Trained in the prestigious Parisian cellar, recognized for her skills as a taster and her knowledge of wine, Isabel was for four years the hostess of the wine and champagne bar of this institution that always welcomes connoisseurs from all over the world.
Became an ccomplished winegrower
However, Isabel’s earrings were more than a sign ; they heralded the amazing destiny of a young woman born in the African tropics who, through other encounters and circumstances, will soon assert herself as an accomplished winegrower
In 2002, with Claude Fonquerle, trained in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and then a winemaker in the Côtes du Ventoux, Isabel created a winery located in the exceptional La Livinière appellation area, the Premier Cru du Languedoc, in Minervois.
The apprentice winegrower wishes to encompass the entire process and successfully follow the training of operations manager (viticulture, oenology, winemaking, trade, administration).
Today, on the eight hectares of the L’Oustal Blanc winery, which she now manages alone, Isabel cultivates her natural Carignan, Grenache Gris and Noir, Cinsault, Macabeu, Syrah, and produces solar and refined wines that reflect a unique terroir as well as the sincere expression of a woman with a strong personality.
50 million years ago, when the Atlantic Ocean breached the Bay of Biscay, a warm and shallow sea slipped north of the Pyrenees until it came to lick the southernmost slopes of the Massif Central. . La Livinière marks, to the south, the ultimate advance of this very old coastline.
“Lavineira” is the oldest written mention of the place, in 1069. It means “place planted with vines”.
Recognized as Premier Cru du Languedoc in 1999, La Livinière is an appellation of powerful and elegant red wines produced in the natural region known as Petit Causse, at the bottom of the Piedmont of the Montagne Noire.
The appellation La Livinière is located in the heart of Minervois, equidistant from Narbonne and Béziers, at the crossroads of the three metropolises Toulouse, Montpellier and Barcelona.
Since 2002, Domaine de l’Oustal Blanc has been practicing natural agriculture that respects the environment and consumer health. To support this approach, the estate recently applied for certification in organic farming.
To buy wine or organize a visit to the Oustal Blanc estate, do not hesitate to contact Isabel Fonquerle winemaker on +336 036 102 31
Domain
Harvest and Vinification
Wines
