Domaine de l’Airial is worth visiting. You have to reach the Bourda, one of those place names the Gers is full of, in the heart of Gascony, a few kilometers from Eauze commune. Nestled in the middle of 29 hectares of land, the property can be found on the way to Lagraulet-du-Gers. It is better to know !
But it’s the buildings that catch the eye. A typical Gascon house, heralded by its six picturesque palm trees, and its winery, both buildings made of ochre-coloured stones. It doesn’t take long for you to feel that you arrived in d’Artagnan’s homeland.
It is in exactly this cellar that Cécile is busy with her barrels when she is not in the vineyard. Because the winemaker here, it is her !
From working the soil to caring for the vines, from harvesting to winemaking, from blending to ageing, she monitors, protects, chooses, waits, changes her mind, then innovates, so that her wines could be sublimed into vinegars.
“Winegrower”
Our grapes only, that’s what our vinegars are made of. Because it is indeed vinegars that we are talking about here:
18 dedicated hectares, mainly planted with Petit and Gros Manseng, indigenous grape varieties, and therefore perfectly suited to the local soil. No wonder that her peers and neighbours, all producers under the Côtes de Gascogne appellation have used that very special variety for years.
Oh, and certainly a few Pinot Noir vines, as if to balance any marked regionalism.
Quality and traceability.
It is on this quality soil that the best bunches of grapes are selected to give birth to choice vinegars.
