Occitans Winter Gallery

All our Mythopia Occitan vineyards are situated in the Parc naturel régional de la Narbonnaise en Méditerranée. All vineyards have a view of the lagoon. The lagoon is called Ètang de Bages, which is one of the cradles of European civilization inhabited for more than 150,000 years.

We took over the vineyards in 2024, and it will take some time before they integrate better into the surrounding garrigue landscape. Some rains in November helped to green-cover the soil.

With so much wildlife surrounding the scattered vine plots, the dog is always on high alert.

Being alerted all the time makes pruning an exhausting job for the dog

Sunrises at the Étang are almost always breathtakingly photogenic.

The previous owners switched to machine harvesting and wired the vines. We will transform them back now to the beautiful free-standing gobelets.

Bages is a spectacular medieval village perched on a rock overlooking the Étang. Bustling with life in summer, it becomes peaceful and serene in winter.

The village's local economy was once shaped by winemaking and fishing. Today, only one fisherman remains, and we are the last winemakers in the village. However, there are now at least two dozen Airbnbs for people who enjoy authentic village life.

The soils deteriorated from plowing, herbicides, and draught. It will take some years to restore them.

With stagnant water between the Étang and the vineyards, mosquitoes are always an issue, particularly at dawn and dusk.

The wind is our special friend. It dries the leaves and grapes, sways the shoots, pushes clouds across the sky, and beats the lagoon for windsurfing sessions to keep the holiday mood between working sessions.

You never tire of taking pictures while working or walking around.

The village has five restaurants and wine bars for a population of 700. However, in the winter months, they may all be closed.

There are no trees inside the vineyard yet. We are going to plant them before the spring blossoms.

The vine lines are desperately long. When reforming the old goblets, we create smaller plots with biodiversity islands.

When you see the massive, quirky vines, you realize this is the kind of place vines would have chosen as their home.

With mostly clear skies year-round, the moon cycles are ever-present and may set the rhythm for the monthly tasks.

We began digging water retention trenches to capture rainwater flowing through the vineyard from the higher-lying surroundings.

On clear winter days, we can see the snow-covered peaks of the Pyrenees south of the Étang.