Vineyard
Forgotten grape varieties, the ancestral method, natural and biodynamic wines: what people actually drink around Gaillac, and what sets the appellation apart.
Harvest time in the Gaillac vineyard, and how to handle it
2026 is an early vintage: July was the hottest month ever recorded in France. The harvest therefore falls earlier than usual — and this is the season when the vineyard is at its finest to look at, and at its most awkward to visit.
Sleeping in your van at a Gaillac wine estate
Spending the night free of charge among the vines is possible around Gaillac — and in two different ways, one of which does not even cost the thirty-euro subscription. You just need to know which estates, and what you will actually find there.
The forgotten grapes of Gaillac
Mauzac, Loin de l'œil, Prunelart, Ondenc, Verdanel: Gaillac is one of the rare French vineyards built on its own native grapes. Some had all but vanished. Here's how they were saved, and what they give in the glass.
Gaillac, birthplace of the ancestral method
Before champagne, there was the Gaillac bubble. The ancestral method — also called the Gaillac method — makes wine sparkle using the grape's own sugars alone, with nothing added. It's the oldest way to make a wine fizz, and here it's one of the vineyard's great affairs. With, as its cousin, the famous perlé.
Natural and biodynamic wines in Gaillac
Gaillac has become one of the South-West's strongholds of natural and biodynamic wine. Behind the words — organic, biodynamic, natural, which don't mean the same thing — there are growers, native grapes and bottles that divide as much as they seduce. A guide to finding your way.