IGP Pays d'Oc: Moulin de Gassac Syrah 2022

Mas de Daumas Gassac

Aimé and Véronique Guibert - after successful careers in leather goods and Irish ethnology respectively - began touring Southern France in search of a property to develop and establish as a family home. By chance, they discovered an old farmhouse and mill on the Gassac river in the foothills of the Cévennes near Aniane. With little wine knowledge but boundless enthusiasm, they bought the property in 1970 and started investigating the surrounding countryside. They began planting Cabernet Sauvignon vines in 1972 and the first vintage of red Mas de Daumas Gassac was produced in 1978. Today, the estate extends to 50 hectares of vines set amongst 5,000 hectares of woodland and Aimé and Véronique’s four sons - Samuel, Roman, Gaël and Basile - oversee the running of the estate. Samuel, the eldest, has been involved in the vinification of the last 23 vintages and has been assisted for the last 5 years by Benjamin d'Anglade - a gifted winemaker and highly-skilled blender.

Diverse free-draining soils of limestone, clay, red gravel and glacial sandstone provide an ideal environment for viticulture aided by a microclimate protected by the massifs of Arboussas and Larzac. In the 1990s, the Guibert family wanted to create a more accessible range of wines and source the fruit for their Moulin de Gassac range from a number of winemakers in the Hérault around Villeveyrac covering some 250 hectares of iron-rich limestone-clay soils. They have strict sustainability standards to encourage biodiversity and use biological controls to counter pests and disease rather than using chemicals. Such conditions are certified by Terra Vitis as 'Viticulture Responsable.