From the atlas
Les Domaines Auriol
The former Les Domaines Auriol, now Vialade & Fils, brings family estates and partner wines together in Languedoc.
At A Glance
| Field | Detail |
| Current name | Vialade & Fils, formerly Les Domaines Auriol |
| Region | Languedoc |
| Home | Lézignan-Corbières |
| Styles | La Clape red and Pays d'Oc whites |
| Signature wine | Saint Auriol Châtelaine La Clape |
| Defining feature | Family operation with more than 70 partner cellars and winegrowers |
The Producer
Vialade & Fils is the current name of Les Domaines Auriol, a southern French wine merchant combining family-owned operations with close collaboration among partner estates. The business is supported by more than 1,500 hectares of vineyards and works with a network of cellars and winegrowers. Claude Vialade is the founder and president, while Jordi Salvagnac is the operational director.
The négociant activity selects, assembles and organises wines with partner cellars and winegrowers. Alongside those partnerships sit the family signatures that Claude Vialade brought together under the Domaines Auriol name. The house now carries both the Vialade & Fils company name and established labels such as Saint Auriol.
Place
Claude Vialade grew up in the Languedoc and places her family roots firmly in the region. The company address is 12 rue Gustave-Eiffel in Lézignan-Corbières.
The wines reach across several southern French categories. Saint Auriol Châtelaine carries the La Clape appellation, while Catch & Release Sauvignon Blanc Organic and Saint Auriol Grand Blanc are Pays d'Oc whites. The labels connect the house to both a named coastal appellation and a broader regional category.
Story
At the end of the 1990s, Claude Vialade bought and united four family signatures under the Domaines Auriol banner: Château Cicéron, Château Saint-Auriol, Château Vialade and Corbières-Montmija. The four names were united under the Domaines Auriol banner while retaining their individual signatures.
The company later changed its name to Vialade & Fils. Claude Vialade remains founder and president, and Jordi Salvagnac serves as operational director. The company name changed, while Saint Auriol continued to appear in wine names such as Châtelaine and Grand Blanc.
Vineyards And Cellar
In autumn 2018, Claude Vialade launched an organic-conversion initiative for estate owners. The programme offered financial support for administrative, technical and oenological costs during the first two years of conversion. Organic conversion removes synthetic treatments and changes how the vineyard is managed over that period.
The 2023 Saint Auriol Châtelaine received two days of cold maceration, followed by three weeks of fermentation and skin maceration. It then spent one year in oak barrels. Cold maceration extracts colour and flavour before fermentation, skin maceration keeps the fermenting wine in contact with grape skins, and oak ageing adds oxygen exposure and wood-derived flavour.
Catch & Release Sauvignon Blanc Organic had brief skin contact before fermentation and lees ageing in stainless steel. Lees ageing keeps the wine with its yeast sediment, a technique that can add texture without the flavour of oak. Stainless steel preserves the vessel's neutral character.
Wines
The red range includes Saint Auriol Châtelaine La Clape, a 2023 blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. Catch & Release Sauvignon Blanc Organic is a 2024 Pays d'Oc white made from Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat. Saint Auriol Grand Blanc is a 2025 Pays d'Oc white made from Viognier, Chardonnay and Rolle.
Together, the bottles cover a La Clape red, an aromatic organic white based on Sauvignon Blanc, and a Viognier-led white blend. The range moves between named appellation and regional Pays d'Oc labelling, with grape varieties defining each bottle's place within it.
In The Glass
Saint Auriol Châtelaine has a nuanced, spicy character with oak notes and flavours of plum, blackberry, chocolate, juniper, black pepper, violet and bay leaf. An earlier 2016 vintage showed blackberry, Morello cherry, tar, mocha and spice, with a robust and tense palate.
Catch & Release Sauvignon Blanc Organic is fruity, youthful and aromatic, with pear, yellow gooseberry, blackcurrant leaf, herbs and lime. The wine's lees ageing in stainless steel gives the cellar method a direct place beside its fresh aromatic profile.
Saint Auriol Grand Blanc is fruity and slightly floral, with yellow pear, apple, fresh herbs, peach and citrus. Its aroma also includes Galia melon, orange and spice, while the palate brings melon, yellow pear, lime, fresh herbs and elderflower.
A Bottle To Understand It
Choose Saint Auriol Grand Blanc. It is the Pays d'Oc white made from 70% Viognier, 20% Chardonnay and 10% Rolle, giving one bottle a clear view of the house's Viognier-led white style. Catch & Release uses Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat, so Grand Blanc offers a distinct second reading of the white range through its grape composition and regional label.
Anecdote
In 1973, Jean Vialade created the first organic village at Ribeaute. Known as the Corbières lion, he was a political activist with a passionate commitment to the green cause. Claude Vialade, his daughter, later described the family estates in absolute terms: they could be nothing but organic. The dated project, the named place and Claude's later words connect Jean's work at Ribeaute with the family's continuing organic direction.
Final Word
Les Domaines Auriol is now Vialade & Fils, a Languedoc wine business joining family operations, partner estates and labels that span La Clape red and Pays d'Oc whites. Saint Auriol remains the clearest name across the bottles.
Sources
- https://www.saint-auriol.com/en/
- https://www.vialade-et-fils.com/fr/vialade-et-fils
- https://www.the-buyer.net/people/claude-vialade-on-driving-organics-at-domaine-auriol
- https://www.hachette-vins.com/guide-vins/producteurs/46726/les-domaines-auriol/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/saint-auriol-chatelaine-450001/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/catch-release-232901/
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/saam-222001/
- https://matklubben.se/sortiment/saint-auriol-grand-blanc/
- https://www.gilbertgaillard.com/en/resultats/saint-auriol-chatelaine-vintage-237603