Domaine Gayda, Figure Libre Freestyle Blanc 2023

Get to know: Domaine Gayda, Figure Libre Freestyle Blanc

A crisp, textured Organic Languedoc white wine from Pays d'Oc, fermented in part concrete egg, part oak barrel.

Tasting Note

White peach and citrus on a nose that stays quiet at first and opens as it warms. Pale yellow, bright, silver at the edge. The palate is tangy and zesty, and then the wine widens out into something rounder and almost creamy through the middle before a finish of lime zest and a faint salty tang pulls it back tight again. The meeting of two textures in one glass, which is what happens when half the blend ferments in a concrete egg and half in barrel. The combination is at once refreshing and satisfying in a way that makes you want another sip.

Top food pairings:

• Seared Scallops
• King oyster mushrooms grilled with garlic and parsley
• Roast pork with fennel

Kate Says

"You wouldn’t believe how much work goes into making this super value wine. The result is so impressive. It’s crisp and complex. Easy to like for Sauvignon drinkers but also interesting enough for those looking for something more."

Producer Info

Domaine Gayda started in 2003 on what had been sunflower fields at Brugairolles, near Limoux - the same year Reserve Wines did. Tim Ford and Anthony Record bought the land, then flew to Cape Town to find a winemaker, and came back with Vincent Chansault, a Loire boy who had been making wine at Boekenhoutskloof. He took the job because the Languedoc reminded him of South Africa: the same spread of soils, the same mountains and ocean and wide flat land. Certified organic since 2011, with 300 olive trees planted the same year, green manures and winter cover crops.

The range name is a gymnastics term. A “figure libre” is the free programme - the bit where you do what you want. Which is precisely the idea: Loire varieties planted in the Languedoc, blends nobody else would attempt, deliberately outside the appellation rules.

How it's made:

• Hand-picked, sorted and destemmed, with no crushing at all
• Cold soak on the skins in vat for 24 to 72 hours; the Grenache Blanc pressed as whole bunches
• Natural fermentation - concrete egg for the Grenache Blanc and Marsanne, 228-litre and 500-litre barrels for the Viognier, Macabeu and the rest of the Grenache Blanc
• Twelve months on the lees with regular stirring, then a month in vat before bottling

Good to know:

• Region: IGP Pays d'Oc, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
• Grape: Grenache Blanc 50%, Macabeu 25%, Marsanne 15%, Viognier 10%
• Style: White, still, medium-bodied, partly oaked
• Closure: Cork
• Vegan: Yes
• ABV: 12.5%
• Vintage: 2023

Why we love it:

Ridiculous value for the work behind it. A Languedoc white wine with twelve months on lees, two fermentation vessels and four grape varieties in it, at a price most people spend on something made in a tank in a fortnight.