We just returned from a weekend in the Gard to attend the village of Souvignargues' annual winter fair, Quilles de Joie. Our good friends Vicky & Fergus Clague were there to cook for the masses on Saturday and pour the 22 Sa Fille, from their old vine Grenache. Whilst planning, they had the generous idea to invite Lucie & Jules from Ham Street (Rue de Jambon as they were affectionately nicknamed) to pour their wines at the fair as their guest.
To observe the interactions between Lucie & Jules, and the guests & growers at this rural fair was a proper privilege. Watching friendships form, pre-conceptions being happily challenged, the atmosphere of hospitality and curiosity around their barrel was a joy throughout the weekend.
Quilles de Joie is a very wholesome affair, organised by an association of local volunteers, with growers primarily from the Gard and its surrounds, with a few choice producers from further afield. A communal lunch with everyone bringing a contribution starts the day on Saturday, local (suitably eccentric) music late into the night closes out Day 1, and Day 2 has a long Sunday lunch for the growers and guests in the main tent as it's centrepiece. Ferg brought another injection of UK gastronomy by blowing minds with one of the best scotch eggs we've eaten thanks to a local pig, and mince pies (fruits confits et pommes en tartes feuilletée) for dessert.
Monday saw a chance to quickly catch up in the cellars of our growers around Souvi, to taste a properly energetic and nourishing set of 2025 wines from tanks - a vintage that's already showing incredibly well across the board. Thierry Forestier, Olivier Pichon, and Laurent Bagnol each showed us their unique take on the terroir of Souvignargues, and over in Vieilleville, the Moulin brothers at Mas De La Font Ronde taught us about their pumpkins, indigenous wheat, and where the Pompom of their titular rustic charmer comes from (Yves' treasured horse harness). We finished the trip with a lunch of their carrots, and roast pork reared on the farm with mushrooms foraged alongside.
A huge thanks to everyone for their hospitality and generosity of spirit - long live the Gard. The wines of this region have such a soft spot for us, and for those of you seeking characterful, good value zero-zero wines from true paysan vignerons, we couldn't recommend them more.
The full list of what we have available from these Gard growers is detailed below.
Overlooking the Cévennes from Laurent Bagnol’s cave, just above Souvignargues.
Ferg Clague
Vicky & Fergus Clague: Junas
(Red) 2022 Sa Fille
Grenache
Hand harvested from their vineyard in the Gard commune of Souvignargues: less than half a hectare of 80-90-year-old vines on grès soils in the foothills of the Cevennes, surrounded by olive groves, and Garrigue - dry, scrubby wild evergreen woods of green oaks, pines trees, juniper, thyme, rosemary, lavender, and fennel. Over the grès, is clay that holds the water well, the topmost part of the vineyard is a favourite place for wild boar to come to drink, root around, and help turn over the earth for Vic & Ferg.
Sa Fille (named for Ferg's daughter, Saffie) is a 10-day whole bunch maceration of Grenache, in a tank topped with carbon dioxide and semi-filled with some direct-press juice. Fruit was basket pressed back to tank, before bottling in spring with no additions.
Mas Lau
Laurent Bagnol: Souvignargues
50km from the sea, overlooking the foothills of the Cévennes, alongside his olive trees, Laurent organically farms eleven hectares of old goblet vines deep in the garrigue, with a soft-spot for the area's indigenous varieties. Across his surface are plantings of Carignan, Oeillade, Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah.
Soils are incredibly rich and varied in their geological complexity: beneath the clays are the notable compacted sandstone/limestone 'gres' soils and shimmering limestone, rich in molluscs and marl.
The wines are hugely charming, a rustic, romantic expression of a unique terroir. To us, they're among the most direct examples of what we love about the Gard. Raised in simple vats of steel and enamel, vinified gently with very little extraction, Laurent likes to keep out of the way.
(White) 2021 Melina Blanc
Grenache Blanc
Gastronomic, textural and deeply tropical direct-press Grenache Blanc.
(Red) 2021 La Cabane du Malet
Carignan, Syrah.
A gentle maceration of whole bunches for 1 week, aged simply in tank: a dark-fruited but juicy red, abundant hedgerow fruits, wild herbs and the finest snap of tannin.
(Red) 2021 Clin d'Oeil
Oeillade
Laurent's spotlight on the nearly-extinct local 'Oeillade' variety, black-fruited and spicy, a short whole bunch maceration, incredibly versatile.
Mas de La Font Ronde
Yves & Vincent Moulin: Villevieille
Yves & Vincent converted their farm, Mas De La Font Ronde to organics nearly 20 years ago. Farmers first - growing wheat, potatoes and chickpeas, they have 25 hectares under vine.
Just below the hillside village of Vielleville on a plateau of clay-limestone, their international varieties are sold to the local co-op, whilst Vincent concentrates his efforts in the cellar working with the traditional local varieties. The Moulin family have been farming in the village of Villevieille for over 300 years. Quintessential vigneron paysan!
Working gently and simply, they produce great value, charming wines that are always a treat to have back on the list.
(Skin) 2024 Pom Pon Blanc
Carignan Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Ugni Blanc.
Super approachable introduction to the world of orange: 2 days on the skins gives it a pop of stone fruit, a lovely hint of salinity, and a touch of pepper.
(Red) 2023 Pom Pon Rouge Avril
Aramon, Alicante, Cinsault, Carignan.
Charming easy-going bistro red, juicy fruit, peppery tannin. Short maceration from a hot year.
(Red) 2024 Pom Pon Rouge 5L BIB
Aramon, Alicante, Cinsault, Carignan
(Red) 2023 Midrium
Carignan
A sappy, dense-fruited maceration of old-vine Carignan, heady with garrigue, fresh acidity making this a perfect table wine.
La Grange Saint Andre
Olivier Pichon: Souvignargues
Down a litlle Chemin in Souvi, you'll find the cellar of Olivier Pichon: one-time social worker turned winemaker. Over the last 10 years with the help of a small but close-knit local community of natural winemakers, Olivier has learnt the ropes on the job; each year bottling a small range of completely charming wines with bags of character.
Working more or less the same way each year - simply, quickly and delicately. Whites are pressed directly, reds are macerated as whole bunches with no extraction for two to four days in fibreglass and steel.
(Red) 2023 Le Marmot
Cinsault, Grenache
A bright, juicy maceration of Cinsault, filled out with a little Grenache, ripe fruited, great table wine for winter.
(Red) 2023 Stella Maris
Syrah
A direct, structured Syrah, dark-fruited and driving for 2023.
(Red) 2022 Grenache des Grès
Grenache
A sappy Grenache, dense-fruited, brittle tannins providing a fine frame of structure.
Mont de Marie
Thierry Forestier: Souvignargues
In the village of Souvignargues on clay and limestone, Thierry farms 12 hectares of native Gard varieties, having traded in his career in IT for that of a vigneron back in 2004. A friendship with Eric Pfifferling was the catalyst for working as gently as possible, minimal intervention in every sense of the word.
Farming old vines organically in co-planted parcels surrounded by forest, prioritising soil health and diversity, Thierry has become something of a luminary in the area. Now nearly twenty years into his journey, he's a champion of zero-sulphur winemaking and careful farming, he's helped fledgling growers with vinifications, lends a hand in re-training their vines back to traditional goblet pruning, or helping source grapes when growers hit hard vintages.
In the cellar, Thierry keeps macerations short, whole bunches rarely stay in tanks for more than 5 days, presses are gentle, ageing is simple. A light touch is the order of the day in the cellar.
(White) 2023 Anatheme Blanc
Ugni Blanc, Carignan Noir
Anatheme Blanc is a special little wine, bags of character and great value: from old goblet vines of Ugni Blanc & Carignan Noir on clay and sandy soils, pressed gently and directly to demi-muid barrels for 9 months fermentation and ageing on the lees, no fining or filtration. Bottled by gravity, the result is a beautifully generous expression, with great tension and saline length.
(Red) 2023 Anatheme Rouge
Carignan, Aramon
2023 was a year with a bad frost and further bad hailstorms in Souvignargues, meaning we have a smaller range of wines from Thierry this year - the surviving fruit from the Altissima and Les Planques parcels has been blended into the Anatheme Rouge and Blanc cuvées, and we also have a brand new wine: Coquin De Sort. Info below.
(Red) 2023 Salve Ager
Grenache, Cinsault
(Red) 2023 Salve Ager Magnum
Grenache, Cinsault
(Red) 2022 Altissima
Grenache
(Red) 2022 Altissima Magnum
Grenache
(Red) 2023 Coquin des Sorts
Grenache, Cinsault
(Red) 2023 Coquin des Sorts Magnum
Grenache, Cinsault
With hail severely diminishing yields in the oldest-vine parcels Thierry picks for Puech Coucou and Altissima, he macerated fruit from these two parcels (80-year-old Cinsault and 70-year-old Grenache) together as whole bunches for 6 days before ageing on the lees in tank for 9 months.