Domaine du Traginer was founded in 1975 by Jean-Francois Deu, the son of a winegrower who worked in the vineyard from a young age. He decided early on that he wanted to use mules to work the land, a tradition that had almost disappeared in the area at the time. He started with the last mules from Banyuls and dedicated the name of the estate to this traditional practice. The 'Traginer' means muleteer in Catalan (because mind you, this is a Catalan part of France!).
Since 1997, the company has been working organically, and 3 years later it took the step to biodynamics. In 2013, the domain obtained the Demeter certificate.
The vineyards are located on the hills of the Mediterranean
In the wine cellar too, a slow but steady change of working methods has been implemented. In practice, it means that little is intervened during the winemaking process. With one delicious exception: the fermenting pulp is fortified with alcohol. This is to meet one of the conditions for the AOC Banyuls: the wine is a Vins Doux Naturels.
And then? Almost nothing! Spontaneous fermentation, no new wood, no filtering and clarifying, sometimes a tiny bit of sulphite at bottling.
