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CLAUDE OLIVER - WINEMAKER

 

 

What are your secrets for making award-winning wines?

First and foremost, it's a question of quality, not quantity. Applying this credo requires constant vigilance in the vineyard; measures to

assure low yields; a rigorous selection of grapes at the cellar door; careful monitoring of the vinification by our oenologue; and passion - as my father likes to say: "Wine is like love, without passion it cannot exist."

 

How important is terroir in your approach?

Our privileged Aspres terroir is central to our approach: we have a superb limestone-clay vineyard; over 300 sunny days per year; winds that keep the vines in good health (alternating maritime winds from the Mediterranean and the dry Tramontane from the north); wonderful old vines with a long tradition in Roussillon; a team with a long association with Château du Mas Déu; and a family history of winemaking here that goes back 6 generations to the beginning of the last century. My desire to pass on our privileged terroir to the next generation, in the best possible condition, is the motivation behind the current project of converting the vineyard, parcel by parcel, to organic viticulture.

 

"Wine is like love, without passion it cannot exist."

 

Why is Château du Mas Déu emblematic of the rebirth of winemaking in Roussillon ?

In the 1970s, Château du Mas Déu became one of the first domains in the region to bottle its own wine. That was the initiative of my energetic mother - then a rare sight, being one of the very few female oenolgues in France at that time! Since then, we've continued to innovate, with so-called 'New World' techniques in the cellar - like pneumatic presses, thermo-regulated vats, etc. - and improving varieties in the vineyard, like Syrah and Mourvèdre. We have also been pioneers, in Roussillon, of barrel-aging and barrel-fermentation. Having said all that, we remain attached to the 'Old Ways' - because to be emblematic of a region implies respect for tradition and building upon it.