Le Mazel 'Les Leches' 2024

Cépage : Grenache Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc

Ripe and textural with layers of stone fruits, savoury herbs and a bright mineral backbone from the limestone. Honeyed and nectar-like, with rich aromatics of bay, chamomile, melon and pear. There is an oily, mouth-coating quality with some great attack and verve as the wine passes through into a lovely electric oyster shell salinity in the finish. A nourishing country wine with plenty of Mazel soul.

The return of an old cuvée - Les Lèches was originally made using a parcel of vines that Gérald sold to neighbouring vigneron Sylvain Bock when he started out. Having planted more Grenache Blanc that has come to maturity, the wine was reborn in 2023. Roughly half of this young fruit and half Sauvignon Blanc, minus the textbook tasting notes of that varietal.

The grapes are slowly pressed into steel for the juice to co-ferment. As opposed to the long, slow 24-month process of past vintages, the fermentation was fast and had completed by the spring, so Gérald elected to bottle with no additions in April 2025 - something he is experimenting with more frequently as the behaviour of the yeasts appears to be changing along with the climate of the south.

The winemaker: Natural wine legends Gérald & Jocelyne Oustric are the hands and minds behind Le Mazel wines. Gerald is one of a distinct group of winemakers that experienced an epiphany after meeting Marcel Lapierre during the 80s. At the time, he and his father were working family vineyards and selling to a co-op. He pulled out of the co-op and transitioned to organic, realizing his vision of making wine with zero additions. He joined forces with his sister Jocelyne, and Le Mazel was born. Since then they have leased land and experience to emergent winemakers such as Sylvain Bock and Andrea Calek and lead a collaborative relationship with the natural wine producers of the south-central Rhone.