Vieux · 12 km
Domaine de Causse Marines
Patrice Lescarret and Virginie Maignien farm the forgotten grapes of the Gaillacois biodynamically, on the heights of Vieux. Their veil-aged and ancestral sparkling wines are among the most singular in the South-West.
In 1993, Patrice Lescarret, an oenologist from the Médoc, took over a small eight-hectare estate on the heights of Vieux. At a time when many were pulling up local grapes in favour of Merlot and Cabernet, he made the opposite bet: to save the natives of the Gaillacois. Joined by Virginie Maignien, he runs the estate with her today.
Causse Marines is farmed biodynamically, certified since 2005. The clay-limestone soils of the causse, poor and stony, give the wines a particular tension. There’s no chemical weeding here: the rows are grassed over, treatments cut back to copper and sulphur in homeopathic doses.
The cellar surprises as much as the vines. You’ll find veil wine — a forgotten Gaillac tradition Patrice brought back — ancestral-method sparklers, and a whole family of free-form cuvées, the “Ovnis” (UFOs), that play with grapes and macerations. Wines that tell the terroir better than any speech.
Where to find the estate
12 km from Gaillac, on the heights of Vieux.
- 1 Domaine de Causse Marines — Le Causse, 81140 Vieux
Estate wines
4 wines, one signature
A lively dry white blend, barrel-aged, with mineral tension.
A deep, peppery red blend with fine tannins.
Ancestral-method sparkling, fine bubbles, green-apple notes.
An oxidative veil-aged white, unique in the Gaillacois.
Good to know
- Can you taste on site?
- Yes, Monday to Saturday, 10am–noon and 2–6pm. On Sundays it's by appointment: call before you go.
- What is 'veil wine'?
- A white left to age under a thin film of yeast, never topping up the barrel. It picks up walnut aromas. An old Gaillac tradition almost no one keeps up — Causse Marines does, with its Mysterre cuvée.
- Organic, biodynamic, natural — which is it here?
- The estate has been certified biodynamic since 2005 and works as close to natural wine as it gets: grassed-over rows, no chemical weeding, copper and sulphur in homeopathic doses.
- Who runs the estate today?
- Patrice Lescarret, who revived it in 1993, and Virginie Maignien, who joined him. They run it together.
Visit the estate
Come taste on site
Monday to Saturday, 10am–noon and 2–6pm. Sundays by appointment.
Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health. Drink responsibly.