Château de Mayragues

The beginningsThe vines in Gaillac were cultivated by the Romans, but their origins date back at least 3,000 years earlier. While the latter date back to the 12th century, Château de Mayragues is relatively recent! A deed of sale for the estate, dated 1609, mentions the château, the dovecote, the vineyards, the fields, and the woods. The estate, which now covers 80 hectares, includes 12 hectares of vineyards, 45 hectares of fields, and 25 hectares of woodland—an ideal environment for biodynamic farming. It practices mixed farming and intends to maintain this.

A past tenseThe estate, acquired in 1980 by the Geddes family (Alan, Scottish, Laurence, Parisian, and their children Duncan and Anne, born in the 1980s), comprised a dilapidated château, and a vineyard and winery in a similar state of disrepair. Restoration work began immediately, and the first bottling took place in 1982. Converted to biodynamic farming in January 1999, Mayragues was the first vineyard in Gaillac to adopt this approach. The estate was taken over by Duncan and his sister Anne in 2015.

The terroir and the grape varietiesOn a limestone base with clay-limestone areas, the vineyard plots, totaling 12 hectares (4 hectares of white and 8 hectares of red), are situated in a hilly landscape opening onto a north/northwest-facing plateau. The grape varieties are primarily local: Duras and Braucol for the reds, Loin de l’œil and Mauzac for the whites, complemented by Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Gamay. After hand-harvesting, gentle vinification takes place, with minimal SO2 as the only additive, the aim being to bring out the very specific aromas of the local grape varieties. The resulting natural wines are a true expression of the terroir.