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Stéphanie and Frédéric
Frédéric is a self-made man. Even though he didn’t grow up surrounded with vineyards, he was soon interested in the art of testing. As a result, his two sisters gave him the helm of the wine card for the restaurant they founded in 1993, in Clermont l’Hérault. Following his studies, the training he got from conscious winemakers such as Sylvain Fadat and Xavier Peyraud, reinforced his will to only give his best while remaining careful, intelligent and accurate..
Stéphanie followed a more traditional path as she was born in a wine-growing environment.
In 2004, while Frédéric already had a few plots of his own in Argelliers, she inherited from Mas de Perry in Murles, a domain that has been in her family since 1773 and where she gained first-hand experience.
Because they shared a common interest in nearby villages, they joined forces and put their respective knowledge in the mix. Eager to apply the principles they resonate the most with, they turn to organic and biodynamic agriculture.
In addition to the annual harvest, they can perform what they call « mini vinif », a way to conduct experiments in line with a vinification free from sulphur and extra products. They devoted three of four vats to those trials in order to refine their expertise.
Choices they made require patience, will and dedication.
From the start, they offered two vintages including the renowned Cariño, a 100% Carignan red wine — proving once again their creativity.
They’ve put out more than ten wine varieties ever since.
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The Domain
Finding a good location within this geographic area is crucial.
There is a good reason why Frédéric settled exactly here. Maybe it was because he enjoyed making his life much harder… or he just wanted to stand out from the crowd!
Instead of applying for an already existing AOC, either Pic St Loup or nearby Aniane, he decided he would go for Terrasses du Larzac and its peculiar weather. Indeed, it is set on the F curve of bioclimatic variable (chill region). It only reports temperatures above 10°C between 1350 and 1450 hours according to the Winkler Index, while most Languedoc benefits from more sunny days with a temperate to mild climate.
Vinification des rouges
MAS DES AGRUNELLES
Terrasses du Larzac
They might not have chosen the easiest path as this land it is known to be tough to farm and was quickly excluded by efficiency-driven winemakers.
Thanks to a wide diversity of rich soils and the particular attention given to vinification processes, Stéphanie and Frédéric put all their efforts together to make the most of this environment.
They had originally planned to devote each plot to a dedicated vintage to highlight its terroir, immediate environment and climate, in order to work beyond the grape variety itself.
Thus, our wines benefit from an aromatic experience depending on plots rather than varieties.
La récolte, manuelle, est vinifée de façon traditionnelle : pour certaines de nos cuvées la vinification pseudo-carbonique à température ambiante s’effectue en grappes entières.
Chaque parcelle est vinifiée dans une cuve à part.
Une fois éraflé, le raisin est mis en cuve à l’aide d’un tapis élévateur de manière à conserver l’intégrité des baies.
La cuve est ensuite fermée hermétiquement, la fermentation débutant souvent au bout de quelques heures, toujours en levures indigènes et sans souffre.
La macération dure un mois environ.
Le décuvage est dicté par la dégustation journalière.
L’élevage se fait en cuve ou en barrique pendant un à deux ans.
Des soutirages, à l’abri de l’air, ont lieu pendant l’hiver.
Le vin est embouteillé sans collage ni filtration, le seul ajout de soufre se fait à ce moment là, à 2gr par hectolitre.
In organic and biodynamic agriculture, winemaking is about finding a balance with the environment and putting back vineyard at the heart of its environment.
The work we put on the soil requires roots to grow deep and natural yeast to be permeated with their environment all year long... notre façon de travailler marque énormément l’identité du terroir.
We’re guided by this very philosophy in the cellar with minimal technology and a low intervention process. Thus, the wine can freely develop its strong identity.
We do not use any method or add any product that could result in standardisation of our wines.
Our plots enjoy a microclimate proper to the geography that gives our wines a rather unusual balance and complexity for the region.
We offer a wide range of wine varieties as each plot has its own and separate vinification.
For this reason and because authenticity is amongst our core values, each plot has its own wine variety, whenever it is possible.
Red Wine Vinification
Harvest is fully manual and we use traditional methods of vinification. Some varieties are put through pseudo-carbonic maceration fermentation, with the entire grape bunch intact at room temperature.
Each plot goes through vinification in its own vat. Once destalked, grapes are placed in vats through a belt elevator not to crush berries.
It only takes a few hours for fermentation to start in hermetically sealed vats, thanks to natural yeast and free from sulphur.
Maceration lasts for about a month.
Daily tasting helps to pinpoint the exact moment for devatting.
Wine matures in vats or barrels for one to two years.
Racking is performed in winter without exposing the wine to air.
Before bottling, wine does not undergo fining and filtering process. At that stage, very low levels of sulphites are added (2gr/hectolitre).
White Wine Vinification
Grapes are harvested by hand very early in the morning to get the coldest juice possible.
In the press room, must is treated with minimum sulphites (3 gr/hectolitre).
Once grapes undergo press, the juice is gathered into vats filled with carbon dioxide. Wine is not well settled to keep its unspoiled structure.
If all goes as planned, wine does not go through fining or filtration.
As we have our own equipment, we’re free to choose our bottling date on favourable spring days, either fruit or flower. At that point, we’re adding sulphite at a level of 2 gr/hectolitre to fall below a 40 mg/liter total threshold.