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Gaillac Info
Vineyard & Wines

The Gaillac vineyard

One of the oldest vineyards in France, planted by the Romans and tended by the abbey monks. Its hallmark: a handful of grape varieties found nowhere else, and the winemakers who saved them from oblivion.

In the vines at Les Hauts de Broze — © Raynaud photos In the vines at Les Hauts de Broze — © Raynaud photos
Area ~3,000 ha on both banks of the Tarn
Estates ~300 incl. 120 independent cellars
Native grapes 7 found nowhere else
AOC since 1938 among the oldest in France

The Gaillac vineyard is nearly 300 estates and 120 independent cellars across three thousand hectares — one of the oldest in France, and one of the most secret. We're not going to map them all. Better to grasp what ties them together: a handful of grapes found only here, an appellation that makes almost everything, and a few houses to start with. We open a couple below; every estate we've visited is gathered on one page.

Understanding the vineyard

Where to start

Seven grapes found nowhere else
The grapes

Seven grapes found nowhere else

Mauzac, Braucol, Loin de l'Œil, Ondenc, Prunelart… Gaillac's signature, and the story of their rescue.

 Gaillac AOC
The appellation

Gaillac AOC

1938, six terroirs, every style — from dry to sweet, reds for keeping to ancestral bubbles.
Step inside

The estates on the map

Of the hundreds of estates in the Gaillacois, here are the ones we've been to see for ourselves, from both banks of the Tarn to the slopes of Cordes. The rest you discover one cellar at a time.
Click a point to open the estate's page.
  1. 1 Mas d'Aurel — Donnazac — organic, near Cordes.
  2. 2 Domaine de Causse Marines — Vieux — biodynamics, oxidative and natural wines.
  3. 3 Domaine de Larroque — Cestayrols — organic, a Prunelart cuvée.
  4. 4 Domaine d'Escausses — Sainte-Croix — Balaran family, Ondenc.
  5. 5 Château de Terride — Puycelsi — organic, edge of the Grésigne.
  6. 6 Domaine Plageoles — Cahuzac-sur-Vère — ancestral grapes, Vin d'Autan.
  7. 7 Château Les Vignals — Cestayrols — organic, biodynamic, natural.
  8. 8 Domaine du Mas Pignou — Gaillac — Auque family, vin bourru.
  9. 9 Domaine Vayssette — Gaillac — native grapes, ancestral method.
  10. 10 Domaine René Rieux — Gaillac — organic, run as a sheltered workshop.
  11. 11 Domaine de Gayssou — Broze — family since the 16th century, Prunelart.
  12. 12 Domaine de Borie Vieille — Lisle-sur-Tarn — family since 1910.
  13. 13 Domaine des Vergnades — Cadalen — 6th-generation handover.
  14. 14 Domaine Carcenac — Montans — seven generations, 100 ha.

In Gaillac, you don't follow fashion: you keep what others tore out. That's what makes these wines so hard to mistake for anything else.

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