Our History
The history of Ormarine Cellar starts in 1922 when the winegrowers from Pinet gathered in a spirit of solidarity and formed a winegrowers’ association.
However the originality of Ormarine terroir dates back to 2000 years.
118 av J.C the Via Domitia determines our future
May be the vineyards of Pinet vineyards would not have achieved the recognition they have today if in 118 B.C a Roman General Domitius Aheobarbus had not built a military road across Gaul to link the Italian Peninsula to the Iberic Peninsula. The famous via Domitia went across the vineyards of Pinet, it opened the way to wine trade and promoted the expansion of the vineyards.
1618 Historical grape variety
The Piquepoul variety, starting point of our history was first quoted by the famous botanist J B Magnol in his book entitled “Sylve Plantarium", among the 6 best know grape varieties in Languedoc.
1922-1923 Gathering of men
Official steps are undertaken in order to enhance the white wine produced on the terroir of Pinet. 53 winegrowers come together and give birth to the “Association of white wine producers of Pinet”. The vintage of the 53 founding members permits to vinify a total volume of 6188 hectolitres. The totality of the wines is bought by the Ets Noilly Prat in Marseillan who will be in charge of the marketing and sales.
1985 The AOC "of merit"
A great moment in the history of the Cellar. After several long years of investment in their everyday life to improve the quality of their wines and create brand awareness at a national and international scale, the producers of Ormarine Cellar’s hard work has finally paid off : Picpou de Pinet is classified AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée Picpoul de Pinet) joining the large family of AOC Côteaux du Languedoc.
1992 In the List of Awards of great names
The Cooperative Cellar celebrates its 70th anniversary. Still in a move towards valuation, different names given successively give way to “Ormarine” which stands out as a sign of recognition among a large number of consumers.
2008 visionary thinking
As early as 1922, the members of the cooperative shared already a common vision. To gather all the men and women driven by a common objective in order to progress and achieve their target: make sustainable the winegrowers’ activity, improve the quality of the wine, protect the exceptional cultural landscape around them. Merging with the Cooperative Cellar of Villeveyrac ( Les Costières de Villeveyrac) fits in with the initial step. This merging has permited to move from a vintage of 60 000 hl to 95000 hl. It gives birth to a new name “SCA Cave de l’Ormarine".
2013 IN THE HEARTH OF HERAULT
The Cooperative Cellar of Cournonterral (Les Côteaux de Terral) joins the Cave de l’Ormarine now has a wealth of variety of appellations, grape varieties, wines produced and vinified. This is the bierd of the new slogan : "Terroir Discovery"
2017 Even further
8 years after the first merger, two new cellars join the cave Of Ormarine : the Cooperative Cellar of Saint Hippolyte du fort (Terrasses Cevenoles) and the Coopérative Cellar of Vias (Vignerons de Vias).
L'Ormarine currently has 470 united coopérators operating more than 2.500 hectares of vines and vinifying some 150.000 hectoliters