Mas de Daumas Gassac: producer profile

Mas de Daumas Gassac has been the most celebrated domaine in Languedoc over the past half-century.

Its genesis can be dated back to a solitary walk around the property taken by Bordeaux geology professor Henri Enjalbert in July 1971. Returning to the mas [farmhouse], he declared to the astonished owners that they might produce ‘a grand cru from this soil – though it may be 200 years before it is accepted as such’.

Those owners were former glovemaker Aimé Guibert and his wife, a university ethnologist called Véronique de la Vaissière; they had bought the property the previous year. Aimé Guibert seized on the words – and greatly accelerated the time frame.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 15 wines from the Mas de Daumas Gassac range

Seven years later, the first vintage (1978) of the Cabernet Sauvignon-based Mas de Daumas Gassac was launched, made with a little sage consultative help from Bordeaux oenology professor Emile Peynaud.

At first, silence.

In 1981, though, the wine was declared to be ‘a grand cru of the Languedoc’ by Figaro journalist Michel Piot – and subsequently, by French restaurant guide Gault et Millau as ‘Château Lafite du Languedoc’.

Further praise (from Hubrecht Duijker, Hugh Johnson, Robert Parker and Clive Coates MW, among others) secured the wine’s fame.

Aimé Guibert continued to produce the wine from the vineyards lauded by Enjalbert, and on the lines laid down by Peynaud, until his death in 2016. Four of his five sons – Samuel, Gaël, Roman and Basile – manage the estate today.

Samuel Guibert makes the wine on behalf of the family. ‘When I took over between 2000 and 2010, my biggest challenge,’ he says, ‘was to make sure that no one said, “Wow, what a change!”.’

Much work has gone into the estate, but it’s designed to ensure that consistency and quality are maximised, while staying within existing style parameters. Cabernet, notably, is still king. ‘We’ve had a chance to compare Cabernet with all the other varieties we grow here,’ says Guibert. ‘In 20 out of the last 21 vintages, Cabernet was the best variety – by far.’

The Cabernet (70%-78%) is still blended with the fruit of up to 24 other varieties, including Pinot Noir, Tannat, Tempranillo, Baga, Nebbiolo and Saperavi.

These are picked in a state of mixed ripeness prior to the Cabernet. At the Daumas Gassac vineyard altitudes (250m-550m), this means fresh acidities and never more than 14% alcohol. The wine is steel-fermented and lightly oak-aged: 12-14 months and at most 15% new oak, with three or four Bordeaux-style rackings prior to bottling. It is never a hedonistic, lavishly fleshed, beefcake Cab; indeed, its classical reserve when young can surprise. But it ages effortlessly for two decades or more, and is invariably poised and digestible.

Mas de Daumas Gassac: at a glance

Founded Land purchased 1971; first red vintage 1978, first white vintage 1986.

Owned by The Guibert brothers: Samuel, Gaël, Roman, Basile and Amelien.

Production 86,000 bottles (red 44,000; white 35,000).

Key wines Mas de Daumas Gassac Rouge; Cuvée Emile Peynaud (pure, single-vineyard Cabernet, in the best years only, including 2015, 2020); Blanc; Vin de Laurence (sweet wine based on early-picked Sercial refermented with late-picked Muscat à Petits Grains Blancs, best years only); Rosé Frizant sparkling.

Great debate

But is it a ‘great Languedoc wine’? That’s an interesting question. Mas de Daumas Gassac is a pure and now time-honoured expression of propitious Languedoc soils, much enjoyed by its drinkers and sold en primeur and on allocation in a way in which few – if any – other Languedoc wines are. So yes, it is one of very few market-tested, auction-traded ‘great Languedoc reds’. Yet it is atypical of the present-day Languedoc in varietal and stylistic terms.

You could not, for example, find a starker contrast to Gérard Bertrand’s notion of grand Languedoc wines (as exemplified either by his IGP Aude Hauterive Cigalus or his AP Minervois La Livinière Clos d’Ora). Were it not an IGP (St-Guilhem-le-Désert Cité d’Aniane), Mas de Daumas Gassac would potentially qualify as AP Terrasses du Larzac – yet it also contrasts with Terrasses du Larzac references such as Mas Jullien, Mas Cal Demoura or neighbouring Château Capion.

Before jumping to conclusions, though, remember that Languedoc varietal choices aren’t written in stone; styles never cease to evolve. In 50 years, we may come to find the Mas de Daumas Gassac 2020 more typical of its region than the Clos d’Ora 2020. Or we may not. Only time – and you, the drinkers – will tell.

There are also developments taking place at the estate itself. ‘The biggest change,’ says Guibert, ‘is the renovation of the vineyard: my father never had to do that. But esca [a grapevine trunk disease] is a big problem here, so every year we try to replace 3ha. We wait three years; we replant (with our own massal selections); we wait again.

‘My top achievement for sure has been completing 18km of fencing to keep out the wild boar. We used to lose 10% of the crop to boar every year, so that fence saves us about €200,000 a year. We also don’t have tractors in the vineyards any more – just quad bikes, with horse ploughing and sheep grazing. We’ve gone from five people to 12 in the vineyards.’

And the winery? ‘We work by gravity now in the winery, and that has really helped in terms of elegance and finesse. It has also cut the use of SO2 by 75%. Every time you pump you bring in oxygen, so you reduce oxygen 10 times by not pumping. The next project is to increase storage space, and in the long term we’re also planning a new winery. We hope to make a Terrasses du Larzac, perhaps from new vineyards or partnerships – but we’ll have to see; that’s at least two years away.’

Creative thinking

I ask Guibert about the relationship between Mas de Daumas Gassac and the Moulin de Gassac wine range. ‘My dad,’ he explains, ‘was an entrepreneur. He loved to create things. He saw there was a glut of fruit in the Languedoc in the 1980s, with incentives to uproot. Everyone around us was in the Aniane co-op – so he offered to set up a joint venture to select the best terroirs and vinify those ourselves. Aniane said no; they still regarded us as outsiders. But the co-op at Villeveyrac said yes, and Moulin de Gassac was a fabulous success.’

It still is: 1m-3m bottles every year, coming from 300ha of Villeveyrac vines but made and blended under Mas de Daumas Gassac supervision. Some of the wines are varietals, but the most interesting are blends, sold under brand names that Aimé Guibert rescued from his old leather business (Eraus and Faune whites, Elise and Albaran reds): ‘Selections of a few parcels based on old vines and lower yields, handpicked up on the plateau where the tractors can’t go.’

The co-op at Aniane, meanwhile, has closed.

Andrew Jefford’s highlights from the Mas de Daumas Gassac range

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