The vineyard " Les Grandes Costes " has a small twenty hectares . It belongs to the Mediterranean tradition of family vineyards . It is a few kilometers from Pic Saint Loup, in the south of France north of Languedoc. There, the stony soil promotes a perfect ripening of the grapes and making great wines racy , subtle and aromatic . Coming to meet me, this is not only a wine you taste , it is also and above all its secrets: sincerity , harmony, pleasure. At a time of globalization , origin, expertise and authenticity are the ingredients conducive to the development of large and beautiful contemporary wines. These confidential wines are to be enjoyed with relish and without complexes. Created by the rules of the art for lovers of earthly pleasures , I hope these bottles will give you as much happiness as I had to vinify them.
The The Style of our wines :
The Domaine Les Grandes Costes harvests and vinifies authentic wine-maker’s wines, honest and of very high quality. Fine and elegant, our wines are created for real wines lovers. Les Grandes Costes are first and foremost rare wines. Some « cuvées » can be appreciated young, others flourish with the patina of time that some amateurs of fine wines seek. The wines are complex, fruity and true to their stony northern Languedoc terroir. They have an evident bias towards accuracy and sincerity.
There is nothing complicated, old-fashioned or overly sophisticated about our approach to wine. On the contrary. At this time of globalization, quality, origin, terroir, know-how, authenticity and tradition are the key ingredients for the development of magnificent, pleasurable wines, made to be enjoyed and tasted unabashedly.
Our Location :
The Domaine Les Grandes Costes is located in the South of France, in the northern Languedoc, in the foothills of the Cevennes where the Pic Saint Loup thrones majestically. More precisely we are located thirty kilometers north of Montpellier and roughly forty kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The winery, estate buildings and the vineyards classified as ‘Appellation of Origin Coteaux du Languedoc’, are located in Vacquières, a small rural village of 450 inhabitants. The other plots of the vineyard, classified ‘Appellation Pic Saint Loup’ is located in the neighboring communes of Sauteyrargues and Corconne.
"Terroir" and climate :
The vines, the only crops cultivated in the region ever since the eradication of most olive trees by heavy frost in 1956, are embedded in a luminous landscape of scrubland, limestone and exposed to the double influences of both a Mediterranean climate and a continental rhodanian climate. Our grape varieties (Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Carignan) benefit from this wonderful alchemical conjunction of the local climate, of the soil and of the the vines themselves. It is this combination which is referred to as ‘terroir’. Apart from technical mastery of the winemaking process, my job as a winemaker is mainly to facilitate this alchemy and enable it to happen.
The northern location of the vineyard promotes phenolic ripening of the berries and the development of fine wines, elegant, concentrated, with spicy aromas marked by their natural environment.
Passion and Pleasure :
Your interest as a purchaser of wine is purely in finding a genuine product of terroir and pleasure. A cultural product that does not disassociate itself from the soil of the winemaker. The wines of the Domaine «Les Grandes Costes» belong to the family of wines from the «old world». They come from the Mediterranean tradition of small family farms and farmer’s wines. These subtle, tailormade wines, have a «substance» and a cheerful, pleasant «soul”. You simply must discover and share the wonderful nature which inhabits each of our vintages. Whether you are a wine lover or not, knowledgeable or not, you enjoy pleasurable moments. This pleasure and the stimulation of all the senses, so particular to the Grandes Costes wines, lies in: taste, smell, color, texture, balance, its history, the place where it was ‘born’, and the winemaker who assisted at the ‘birth’... Your pleasure is magnified when you enjoy these wines together with a splendid meal which will create the perfect harmony or when you share it with good friends and welcome guests. This allows the wines of Les Grandes Costes to achieve their ultimate goal: beyond pleasure, to make you feel good. Ultimately, you are free to see whether or not your sometimes ineffable pleasure is made possible by the ideas and requirements that I, as a winemaker, pursue in my work. It is my pride and my secret reward to hear you say about my wines: «Ah! That was good! We truly enjoyed ourselves! ». To hear from you or to see you return with a smile on your face.