Dry white

Gaillac

Robe — Pale straw, sometimes lightly sparkling

  • green apple
  • pear
  • quince
  • honey
  • hawthorn
Palate
Dry to lightly sweet, often faintly sparkling; apple-skin freshness
Ageing
Mostly young, 1–4 years
Serving
8–10 °C

One of France's oldest vineyards, worked since Roman times on the banks of the Tarn, Gaillac is a treasury of near-forgotten local grapes. Its white is built on Mauzac — the apple-skin-scented grape of Limoux — often made in the ancient méthode ancestrale, a gently sparkling, faintly sweet style that predates Champagne.

Reds from Braucol and Duras, sweet whites, and pét-nat all share the same diverse, deeply traditional patch of the south-west. Idiosyncratic and historic, Gaillac is a living museum of French vinous variety.

The blend

A typical modern composition

Where it is made

Producers

A few estates working in this style today — a sample, not a ranking

Through time

Indicative presence index, 0–100Origins & Antiquity — 15The Monastic Middle Ages — 40Exploration & the Fortified Age — 40Classifications & the Golden Age — 40Phylloxera & the World Crises — 35The Modern & New World Era — 55Antiquity15500150017001875195055