The family Move forward
In the spring of 2021, during the painful pandemic of Covid 19, we determined to move to the south of France, to quit the city life that we had been living and getting tired of, to pursuit the sunshine of the mediterranean sea, the smell of the rosemary, the sweet of the figs and of course the good wines.
We were looking forward to countryside with a huge garden of all kinds of vegetables and fruits, a backyard where kids can explore and adventure, our dogs can run around... We were sure that this new life would bring the whole family new energy, new spirits and new opportunities.
After long time of search, we finally found domaine de Prax Viel, a vineyard in the middle of Corbières, a famous wine area in cathar’s land. The domaine satisfies all our dreams, rural area close to both sea and mountain, magnificent nature and friendly local people, enough land to grow and farm, houses and swimming pool….There are still a lot of work to do to improve this domaine, but we determined to take over and work on it.
We are an international family - Jörg comes from Germany and Jue comes from China. We have 2 kids, Leo and Emma. We have been travelling around the world and we love to meet and talk to people. Then we fell in love with Prax Viel when we saw it. Now here is our new home, we are proud of it as well as our village and our region.
History of Prax Viel
The history of the domaine de Prax Viel (previously called Prat Vieil) can be dated back to 800 A.C.; the first building was the prieuré (priory), attached to the diocese of Narbonne. In 959, the Canons in Narbonne transferred the prax viel in favor of the abbot of the Lagrasse. Since then the prieuré and its farm had been subordinated to the abbey of the Lagrasse until the judge declared commoner the Prax Viel and its farm in 1715. The houses surrounding the prieuré were probably built after that to accommodate the agricultural activities; it was said that a monk had been kept a huge herd of the sheep in prax viel and in prax naud which locates in the opposite side of the street.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the vine was developed in the domaine followed by the production of the wine in its cave. Today the cave still boasts a huge capacity with 4000hL in concrete tanks. The domaine had been living through the revolutionary period when mechanical machines took over the powers of the horses for the vine activities. It went through a glorious period when the regions were flushed with vine and a transition period when the production of wines reduces while the quality greatly enhanced.
However since the beginning of the 21st century, with the population quit the domaine, the buildings were getting abandoned. Only vineyards were explored in the last 20 years where elsewhere was taken over by the nature. But now, the page is turned over again and new chapiter has already started …
New page of prax viel
We determine to make Prax Viel a complexe domaine, which exercises all our hobbies and favorite activities
We continue to take care of the vineyard; high quality grapes are the root of our business. We develop our own wines. Our wines are our business cards of the domaine.
We farm a lot of animals, cows, goats, doneys, rabits, hens, dogs, the list is extending... animals are not optional, they are must have for us.
We grow cereal; our domaine is full of different colors because of the diversity of the plantation.
We renew the houses and priory. We want to bring more people to the domaine , show them our village and our region.
We have a lot of other ideas and new ideas are still popping out ...
