Grapes: Muscadelle (80%) + Mauzac + Ondenc + Verdanel + Loin de L'oeil + Sauvignon
Region: VDF - Gaillac, France
Vintage: 2023
Viticulture: Organic
Soils: Clay + Limestone
Vinification: Muscadelle is hand-harvested, whole-bunch macerated for 11 days, pressed, then fermented demi-muids. The remaining varieties are direct pressed + aged in tanks.
Aging: 9 months in demi-muids
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: 20ppm added
Notes from the Importer: The Terroirists wines come from the Plageoles family’s own impressive bush vines; unlike their other wines that are single-varietal, this range is based on blends (or field-blends) of multiple indigenous varieties.
The wines of Gaillac as a whole are on the map today as wines of quality due to the hard work and adventurous spirit of the Plageoles family. It all started with Robert Plageoles, who took great pride in bringing back the lost indigenous varieties of the area. He researched and replanted over a dozen varieties (7 in the Mauzac family alone) indigenous to Gaillac that had all but vanished. Robert did painstaking work, often going in to the forest to find wild vines growing, and going to seed banks to resurrect these grapes. Robert’s son Bernard continued this work, and now his sons Florent and Romain have taken up the cause of natural wines in Gaillac.
The terroir in Gaillac is made up of clay, limestone, sand and silex soils. Gaillac receives more sunshine than Bordeaux and is graced by a cool maritime climate. Between the historic family vineyard of Très Cantous and the Roucou-Cantemerle vineyard totaling 20-hectares, they farm Mauzac Vert, Mauzac Noir, Ondenc, Duras, Muscadelle, and Prunelart. To drink the wines from Plageoles is to experience the fruit and terroir of living history.
