Domaine Gauby
Domaine Gauby

Domaine Gauby

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Domaine Gauby is one of the absolute references for red wines from the Roussillon and white wines from the Roussillon. Founded by Gérard Gauby and today run by Lionel Gauby in Calce in the Pyrénées-Orientales, it produces biodynamic wines across 45 hectares of old vines — IGP Côtes Catalanes of a finesse and minerality that have profoundly redefined the ambitions of the entire region. Its cuvées Muntada, Vieilles Vignes rouge and the white Coume Gineste are among the most sought-after wines from the Roussillon. Alongside Clos des Fées and Domaine Matassa, Domaine Gauby embodies the excellence of the great biodynamic wines of Languedoc-Roussillon. Among the most sought-after vintages: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021.

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Domaine Gauby: the birth of a great wine from the Roussillon

The history of Domaine Gauby begins before Gérard. It is his grandfather, also named Gérard, who cultivated the first plots of vines in the commune of Calce, a virtually unknown village perched some twenty kilometres north-west of Perpignan. At the time, the grapes were sent to the cooperative. The Roussillon did not yet exist as a region of great wines from Languedoc-Roussillon.

Everything changed with the grandson. Gérard Gauby — a high-level international rugby player who had played for the greatest Catalan clubs — decided at the turn of the 1980s to take up the family torch and make wine himself. He bought three hectares, equipped himself with a cellar, and threw himself in with the same fighting spirit he had shown in his sport. The decade of the 1990s proved him right: the red wines of the Roussillon from Domaine Gauby began to make a name for themselves well beyond the region. Calce entered the map of France's great terroirs.

In 2000, Lionel Gauby joined the estate after a formative period working alongside Olivier Jullien at Mas Jullien — the absolute benchmark of the Terrasses du Larzac. This choice says a great deal about the Gauby family's ambition, who look to the most demanding winemakers of the Languedoc as their models. From 2008, Lionel took charge of the winemaking. The style evolved towards even greater freshness and precision in these biodynamic wines from the Roussillon.

1996: from organic farming to biodynamics, a radical turning point

The most decisive turning point in the history of Domaine Gauby is not technical — it is human. In 1996, Gérard Gauby discovered one morning that birds had died on a plot treated the previous day with synthetic products. That day, he stopped all chemical treatments on the estate, radically and without transition. The conversion to organic farming was total and immediate — long before the approach became a trend in the IGP Côtes Catalanes and the AOP Côtes du Roussillon Villages.

Since then, Domaine Gauby has never stopped deepening this approach. The vines are farmed biodynamically, with entirely homemade preparations based on some twenty plants and essential oils, compost, and no herbicides. Since 2014, agroforestry plantings — arbutus, jujube trees, olive trees — have created biodiversity between the plots. Almonds and olive oil are also produced on the estate: a holistic agricultural vision that sets this biodynamic estate from the Roussillon apart from all its neighbours.

Calce and its old vines: the terroir of the great wines of the Côtes Catalanes

If Domaine Gauby produces wines from the Roussillon of such depth, it is first and foremost because the commune of Calce is geologically exceptional. Limestone, marl and schist are superimposed there in vertical strata, allowing the roots of the old vines to plunge deep into the earth. This structure gives the wines a taut minerality and a freshness that the flatter terroirs of the IGP Côtes Catalanes cannot replicate.

The vineyard covers 45 hectares within an 85-hectare estate. The altitude — up to 300 metres — and the tramontane wind bring an unexpected freshness to this Mediterranean setting. The oldest vines are between 80 and 120 years old — some pre-phylloxera Carignan vines exceed a century. The grape varieties are wide-ranging: Grenache noir, Carignan, Syrah, Mourvèdre for the reds; Grenache blanc, Grenache gris, Macabeu, Muscat à petits grains, Vermentino and Chardonnay for the whites — a palette that explains the richness and singularity of the estate's white wines from the Roussillon.

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