Domaine Plageoles, Syrah, Gaillac AOC, France 2023

Concentrated spice and aromas of leather give way to a palate of lush red raspberries and blueberries with very fine tannins.

Pair with roasts and stews peppered with rosemary, dried fruit and aged cheese.

Manual harvest. Vinified in concrete tanks with the use of indigenous yeast. Short alchoholic fermentation (8-10 days depending on the vintage). Twice daily pigeages. Bottled after one year in vats without fining or filtration.

The wines of Gaillac as a whole are on the map today as wines of quality due to the hard work and adventurous spirit of the Plageoles family. It all started with Robert Plageoles, who took great pride in bringing back the lost indigenous varieties of the area. He researched and replanted over a dozen varieties indigenous to Gaillac that had all but vanished. Robert’s son Bernard continued this work, and now his sons Florent and Romain have taken up the cause of natural wines in Gaillac. 

The terroir in Gaillac is made up of clay, limestone, sand and silex soils. Gaillac receives more sunshine than Bordeaux and is graced by a cool maritime climate. To drink the wines from Plageoles is to experience the fruit and terroir of living history.

The Plageoles are one of the oldest winemaking families in the AOC, and they are thoroughly invested in retaining the traditions and quality for the AOC that had been often overlooked, that however, have now been receiving well-deserved praise.