Mas des Capitelles

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Mas des Capitelles 2022 Vieilles Vignes Rouge, Faugeres AOC

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The schistous foothills of the Cévennes mountain range, at the southeastern flank of the Massif Central, look down from significant altitudes on the Languedoc plain below and the city of Beziers, just a few miles to the south. This is the location of Faugères AOC, where Mediterranean varieties Carignan, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Grenache speak a punchy and iron-laced dialect.

Mas des Capitelles began in 1999, when 9th generation vigneron Jean Laugé began bottling his own wine after a lengthy stint at the local co-operative, where his father—a driving force in the creation of the Faugères appellation in the early 1980s—had served as president. Encouraged by his sons Brice and Cedric who had recently joined the family enterprise, Jean adopted organic viticultural practices, achieving Ecocert certification with the 2011 vintage. More recently, biodynamic preparations have also been incorporated—or, perhaps better, re-incorporated—as these ancestral methods were surely known by the long line of Lauges who worked this land in bygone generations.

Today, Mas des Capitelles encompasses 30 hectares of mostly very old plantings on south-facing hillsides of pure schist. This acidic and well-draining soil in the dry climate of Faugères results in miserly yields that range between 20 to 30 hectoliters per hectare at Mas des Capitelles, which imparts a certain bare-knuckled intensity to wines born from it. However, the moderating influences of high altitudes (250 to 280 meters, making for relatively cool nights) and cooling winds blowing down from the Massif Central keep the wines from feeling gloppy or overly heat-marked.

The domaine's two most important varieties, Carignan and Mourvedre, thrive in these cruelly poor soils and enjoy the relatively lengthy hang time they need to fully express themselves, and the sidemen Syrah and Grenache achieve intense spiciness without becoming outlandishly ripe. Aside from a small handful of younger plantings, the vines range from 40 to 100 years old, and are trained low to the ground in the ancient gobelet (bush-vine) manner. This practice further limits yields and makes machine harvesting impossible.

The Lauges work thoughtfully and naturally in the cellar, aiming to harness the power of their terroir without exaggerating it. Fermentations happen spontaneously in various types of neutral vessels (fiberglass, enameled tank), and semi-carbonic maceration is used in small proportions on a case-by-case basis to contribute freshness and moderate tannins. They favor long macerations of 30 days or more, employing barrels judiciously and adjusting proportions of oak in the elevage based on the fruit in front of them rather than on a recipe. Even the domaine's most basic wine sees two full winters of aging, and the rest of the lineup spends at least 24 months in cask. Filtration is avoided entirely, and sulfites are employed in as minimal of a dose as possible. The resulting wines soar with energy even as their flavors are anchored in the dust and spice of this assertive terroir.