WINEMAKER

Marine Leys

TYPE OF AGRICULTURE

Organic

VINEYARD AREA

5 ha

COUNTRY, REGION, SUBREGION

France, Gaillac, Andillac

After working as a diving instructor and an underwater photographer, Marine began to learn about viticulture while living in Turkey; she then continued studying in Beaune. As a "finishing school", she spent three years working with Gaillac luminaries the Plageoles (who first introduced us to Marine). 

Marine was lucky to find her vineyards to rent; there used to be 20,000 hectares under vine in Gaillac, now only 5,000 remain.

Marine works with a mix of local varieties: Mauzac, Loin de l’Oeil, Braucol, Duras and then some Gamay (fashionable in the 1970’s for Primeur wines), and Syrah ( the most commercial of the varieties, and Gaillac used to sell a lot of bulk must and juice to other regions).

The vineyards are situated on the South-East-facing slopes of the Cordais plateau. The soil is schist on limestone – less argilo-calcareous than the rest of Gaillac. All wines are fermented and aged in fibreglass. No sulphur is used on the reds.

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A Chat with Marine (November ‘19):

How did this year's harvest go for you?
It was a very good one. We were lucky to have had rain at the right time. The maturity progress was never interrupted and the alcohol levels aren't too high either. I would say we've had the perfect result.


That's great! A lot of other winemakers we spoke with have suffered from the big heatwave this summer
I know, we are really lucky here in Gaillac. We have enough water but not too much. Haven't had any frost this year either. Last month we've already had 100mm of rain, which is already building a reserve in water supply for next year.


What is special about Gaillac?
Gaillac is one of the oldest vineyards in France, established in Roman times or even earlier, with great soil and terroir. Roman merchants transported wine to Bordeaux and Northern Europe down the Tarn.
Gaillac is quite isolated. It's close to Toulouse, but Toulouse never wanted to drink wines from Gaillac.
Gaillac has always been underestimated. It's not as famous as Burgundy or Loire regions. And I find that as a result of that Gaillac's winemakers underestimate themselves today, even though there is a big potential here for great wines. Today there are around 20 winemakers in Gaillac doing natural wines. 


And how did you find you way to Gaillac?
I learned winemaking in Turkey when I followed a friend of mine who was establishing himself as a farmer there. His daughter wanted to get into winemaking so he planted a whole vineyard with vines imported from Italy next to his farm just for her. I then decided to help them and fell in love with the vineyard in Turkey. 
When I came back to France it was mainly for my own education, as it was rather complicated to do in Turkey. I wanted to work with someone who knew how to make natural wines. In the vineyard in Turkey I was working organically, so I knew that this was the direction I wanted to head in. But they have never let me experiment with making my own wines, so when back in France I didn't want to start without learning about it first; how to work with natural yeasts for example. So I have gotten in touch with the Plageoles family and they said yes. I've spent two years at their domaine in total and have then found a vineyard of my own in 2014 not too far away. I have always worked organically but am organic certified since 2018. 


What about your family? Do you have any winemaking background?
No, not at all. We have a chef but no winemakers!


Do you work alone?
I get people to help with the harvest and I've been employing a worker called Sebastien for two years, mainly for pruning. We have also done a cuvée which he is in sole charge of. But besides that I do everything myself. I'm really excited to have done this year's primeur under the new appelation 'Vin Nature'  which is now on a testrun in France for the next three years! This will be really big. 

How do the other winemakers in Gaillac influence you? 
We've got a great community of winemakers, called Terres de Gaillac. There are about 20 of us and we see each other pretty often. Once a year we take a road trip together to visit other winemakers and get inspired. Last year we've done Beaujolais, this year it will be the Rhône. We exchange a lot of tips and see how we can improve things - and just help each other out generally.


Which wines do you enjoy drinking? 
Le Clos de Grillons from the Rhône, we are going to visit him so I'm really excited.


Which wine fairs will we be able to find you at in the coming few months?
I'll be at Roots 66 on the 27 & 28 of January 2019 in Montpellier and at La Dive Bouteille on the 2 & 3 of February in Angers. That's all I have planned at the moment.


What can you tell us about your future plans?
I'd love to work with animals, but I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to do this. And also this year for the first time I'll be making a 'Vin de Voile', which has to be kept in a barrel for 7 years. So I'm pretty excited to see how that will turn out. 

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