After many years running the well-known wine bar, Les Zinszins du Vin in Besançon, Fabrice Monnin and his family moved to the remote village of Padern in the Languedoc-Roussillon to take over Mazière in 2013. Their two hectares of vines are made up of Syrah, Carignan, Grenache, and Macabeu and range in age from 60-100+ years old, with some of the oldest planted in 1902. 

Fabrice is the real fucking deal.

A geologist from Jura prior to chasing down his dream of making his own wines, Fabrice recognized the similarities between the soil of Jura and the Mazière site. Why is that important? Because according to Fabrice and other masters, like Pierre Overnoy, the capacity for grapes to produce a good ‘voile’ depends mainly on the soil. Why is that important? Because Fabrice’s entire approach to winemaking is all about elevage, the art of aging wine in barrel after fermentation. Fabrice’s cellar is filled with barrels of wine at different stages of development. He tops some barrels up, while letting others develop a film of yeast, i.e. the ‘voile’, which allows the wine to take on oxidative qualities. Some barrels are done as solera, progressively blending previous vintages with new wine. Shit, sometimes he’ll press red grapes like Carignan through the Macabeu must. There are no rules! Then, when it’s time to bottle, he’ll taste through all the barrels, take a little of this, add a little of that, and find the blend that speaks to his soul. Wines like Carignan 2021 end up not being made from just carignan and definitely not just from 2021. No rules!

Always seeking maximum ripeness, Fabrice has had issues with birds showing up to chow down on his grapes in the last week or two before harvest. So what does a badass like Fabrice do about it? He hires a falconer to hang out in the vineyard day and night with two hawks flying on patrol to scare off any birds that come near. And If that’s not all cool enough, Fabrice and his family lived in a fucking trailer parked amongst the vines for their first few years in Padern while he built them a house to live in. Now that’s dedication people!