Gaillac

Département - Tarn
AOC status - since 1938 (white wines), 1970 (red wines)
Surface - 3,850 ha
Soils - gravel (Tarn) and rolling limestone hills
Production - 180,000 hl
Producers - 138 producers and 3 cooperatives (55% of production)
Grapes - red wines: Duras, Braucol (Fer Servadou), Syrah, Gamay, Négrette, the Cabernets and Merlot
- white wines: Mauzac and Loin de l'Oeil with some Ondenc, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle

See Domaine Rotier South-West France Gaillac wine Map

Gaillac (the town's magnificent Abbaye de St Michel is pictured, left) is the largest appellation of the south-west and one of the region's oldest vineyards. The area includes several of France's "100 most beautiful villages" (many of the others are in the Southern Rhône/Provence) but what about the wines? Just about every type of wine is made here: sparkling wines made using the Champagne method or the méthode rurale (where the sparkle is created by the termination of the alcoholic fermentation); also Perlé wines which have a slight sparkle left over from the malolactic fermentation. Red (64%), white (27%) and rosé (9%) wines are made at various quality and price levels, and, perhaps best of all, sweet white wines based on the local Loin de l'Oeil variety. At the fête des vins in August 2009, I even came across a wine which was Gaillac's answer to sherry although I was not greatly impressed. What did impress was the quality of the wines from Domaine Rotier whose ‘Renaissance’ range includes some of the finest, most individual wines of the appellation.