Vineyard
Forgotten grape varieties, the ancestral method, natural and biodynamic wines: what people actually drink around Gaillac, and what sets the appellation apart.
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.