I’ve been going to Montpeyroux for thirty years. Long before most wine writers knew how to spell it. Long before the natural wine crowd discovered it. Long before the scores caught up to what the glass was already telling you. In 2007 Helene Malabed and I were married there. 100 people gathered, some local, some from afar. All learned what I saw. All tasted what were amazing wines. All made lasting friendships, not only with one another, but with the land of Montpeyroux.
So when I say the news that Montpeyroux has been granted its own communal AOC status is no surprise, I mean it. What took time wasn’t the quality. The quality was always there. What took time was the patience, persistence, and collective will of the people who believed in it when the world wasn’t paying attention.
This recognition replaces the previous Languedoc-Montpeyroux designation and marks the region’s entry into the select group of Languedoc communal appellations. The new AOC covers the village of Montpeyroux and three neighboring communes: Arboras, Lagamas, and Saint-Jean-de-Fos. And it didn’t happen quickly. It is the result of a decades-long campaign by 35 local producers, including 16 independent estates and 19 cooperative members.
The person most synonymous with that campaign is my friend, brother in wine and my guiding spirit when it comes to winemaking, Sylvain Fadat of Domaine d’Aupilhac. Sylvain and his wife Désirée are pioneers of biodynamic viticulture in the Languedoc, farming two exceptional terroirs: the Terrasses d’Aupilhac and Les Cocalières, a remarkable site set within an ancient volcanic crater at 350 meters altitude. Not only was I married to my wife, the mayor married me to the vineyard. Cocailieres is magical. Three generations of Fadats have worked this land since the 19th century, but it was Sylvain who registered the domaine as an independent producer in 1989 , and never stopped pushing for Montpeyroux to stand on its own name. In 2021, La Revue du Vin de France named him Winemaker of the Year. For the second time. Deserved. Long overdue.
Beyond Sylvain and Desiree there are new voices carrying forward what the founding generation built.
The terroir itself makes the argument. Vineyards planted on hillsides between 120 and 350 meters create a distinct day-night temperature difference that preserves freshness in the wines. The proximity to the Larzac plateau brings more rainfall and wind compared to other parts of Languedoc. Carignan and Mourvèdre perform especially well here, and carignan’s resilience to heat and drought is increasingly seen as an asset as climate change reshapes southern France.
Think I’m wrong? Find a bottle of Sylvain Fadat’s magical Le Clos or his pure Carignan. Or, really, his defining wine, the Montpeyroux which makes you wonder why you’re buying Châteauneuf du Pape. Then there’s the wines from Cocalieres. I’m still drinking those from the mid 2000s today, and of course, there’s La Boda, the union of Cocalieres and Aupilhac vineyard fruit.
Wines currently sell for between €10 and €25, comparable to Terrasses-du-Larzac. Producers are counting on the new AOC to lift both prices and prestige. They should. The wines have earned it. The name has earned it. And for anyone paying attention over the last three decades, so have the people.
#Wine #kermitlynch Sylvain Fadat AOC Montpeyroux Désirée Alonso Sanchez Bernard Claude Louis Bardou Ragui Kamel Tim Johnston Mark Williamson Samuel Guibert Malabed DO Helene Marlene FandeGrenache Nicole Sierra Rolet Douglas Margerum Philip Carpenter Michel Smith #wine Victor Rogers