Villeneuve-les-Corbières is with Paziols and Tuchan one of the three villages to produce Fitou at Mont Tauch. The Cooperative was founded in 1948, to help promote the new Fitou appellation. The ‘Cave Pilote’ joined Mont Tauch in 1999.
Villeneuve yesterday
As its name indicates, Villeneuve is a relatively new town. Established around the 12th century, the village developed near an old Gallo-Roman villa Roffian (meaning villa).
Throughout the middle ages, Villeneuve was part of the nearby village of Cascastel. By 1840, Villeneuve’s growing population began to express the need to become an independent community. This goal was reached fifty years later, in 1893 and Villeneuve les
Corbières was officially born.
In 1902, a new tramway line to Tuchan brings economic prosperity and the construction of a station at Villeneuve enables the transport of large barrels of wine to be sold in the market towns of Lézignan and Narbonne. The rail link is suspended in 1932 and replaced by two bus lines.
In 1948, the ‘Cave Pilote’ is inaugurated and the wines of Villeneuve reaffirm their specificity thanks to a new oak ageing cellar, an ageing process which has helped build the reputation of
Fitou.
Villeneuve vineyards
The vineyards of Villeneuve are implanted on the slopes of the
Corbières mountains and the soil is predominantly schist. Villeneuve has some of the most renowned vineyard sites in the
Fitou appellation.