Grange des Peres, Laurent Vaille

Founded in the early 1990s, Laurent Vaille is the renowned winemaker behind Grange des Pères, a highly acclaimed winery in southern France's Languedoc-Roussillon region.

Vaille's winemaking philosophy centres around producing wines of great finesse and complexity that reflect the unique characteristics of the Languedoc-Roussillon terroir. He is deeply committed to crafting wines with a sense of place, focusing on expressing the distinct qualities of the vineyards where his grapes are grown.

Grange des Pères practices sustainable viticulture with a strong emphasis on organic and biodynamic principles. He believes in nurturing healthy vineyards by promoting biodiversity and maintaining a balanced ecosystem. The vineyards are meticulously tended, and the grapes are carefully hand-harvested to ensure optimal quality.

In the cellar, Vaille adopts a meticulous and detail-oriented approach. The grapes are treated with great respect, and the winemaking process is gentle and non-interventionist. Vaille employs traditional winemaking techniques combined with modern precision to create elegant and expressive wines.

The flagship wine of Grange des Pères is a red blend that typically consists of Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Counoise. These carefully selected varietals are vinified separately and blended to create a harmonious and balanced wine. The result is a wine of remarkable depth and complexity, often praised for its rich fruit flavours, refined tannins, and excellent ageing potential.

IGP Pays d'Hérault

IGP Pays d’Hérault is a geographical indication encompassing vineyards within the Hérault department in France’s Languedoc-Roussillon region. Bordered by the Aude, Tarn, Aveyron, and Gard departments and the Mediterranean Sea to the south, it benefits from a Mediterranean climate ideal for diverse grape varieties.

The region gained international recognition thanks to Mas de Daumas Gassac, located north of Montpellier. Its founder, Aimé Guibert, planted a unique mix of vines on volcanic soil, which oenologist Emile Peynaud identified as being capable of producing Cru-standard wines.

While exceptional terroirs like this are rare in Hérault, improvements in winemaking and the use of international grape varieties have elevated the region’s reputation. Dominant red grapes include Syrah, Cabernet. Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache are the dominant red wine grapes, while Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Marsanne and Viogner are the main white varietals.

Southern Rhône Blend

The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.

The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.