Le Mas de La Lune

Le Mas De La Lune represents the dream of Vanessa and Mathieu Courtay. One with her head in the clouds and the other with her feet firmly on the ground, in 2015 they decided to abandon their city-dwelling status to transform themselves into artisans of the earth and live as close to nature as possible. They set off and found in Patrice Lescarret their biodynamic mentor, at Domaine Causse Marines: taking them patiently under his wing, he was able to pass on to them all his passion and savoir-faire for viticulture. In 2017, in Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet, inland from Perpignan, they bought a 7-hectare plot and began to take their first steps as vignerons: the setting is that of the Occitane region, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, the last strip of French land before the Spanish border marked by the great mountains.

The vineyards are located at an altitude of 300 meters above sea level, in the heart of the Agly Valley, and enjoy rocky soils extremely rich in schist and granite sandstone: old bush-trained vines, mostly between 70 and 90 years old and bred according to the dictates of biodynamic agriculture, take root there. The varieties make up a typically Catalan ampelographic panorama: the mouthwatering Grenache Noir, the tannic and spicy Mourvedre, the powerful and structured Carignan and the extremely aromatic white berry Macabeu; finally, Syrah and Grenache Gris also find their place. The climate they benefit from is predominantly Mediterranean: extremely dry in the fruiting season, but with winds capable of bringing just the right amount of moisture and rainfall, in a region like Roussillon that boasts some of the hottest and sunniest areas in all of France. Harvests are carried out at full maturity and solely by hand, picking the grapes that are then transported in small crates. Yields per hectare are extremely low, with fruit of extreme quality and completely drenched in sunshine.

Vanessa and Mathieu pursue the same non-interventionist philosophy in the cellar that they reserve for the vineyard,far from the use of synthetic chemicals, with the only concession being a few grams of sulfites from time to time. Vinifications are carried out only using indigenous yeasts found on the skins and without intervening with filtrations, stabilizations or clarifications. Aging takes place in steel or old oak barrels. Production involves 5 or 6 labels, varying according to the vintage and each made in tiny quantities, between 600 and 3,000 bottles: figures that identify Domaine Mas De La Lune as a precious artisanal reality.