Figure Libre – Freestyle at Domaine Gayda: a free-as-air 2021 vintage
By VINS & TERROIRS, February 17, 2023
Airy and elevated could be the adjectives that best define Domaine Gayda’s Figure Libre Freestyle 2021 cuvees. These southern blends bring together grape varieties from Languedoc and Roussillon. Each in his or her own way proudly illustrates the domaine’s signature: a taste for joyful freedom and vibrant audacity.
Since its creation in 2003, just a stone’s throw from Carcassonne, Domaine Gayda has built up an unrivalled range of terroirs over the past twenty years. Tim Ford and Vincent Chansault chose old vines on characterful soils with 6 hectares in Minervois-La Livinière, in 2004 and over thirty hectares in different parts of Roussillon between 2017 and 2019. All the estate’s wines have been certified organic since 2011.
With each new vintage, Tim Ford and Vincent Chansault draw up a selection of vintages with strong identities: ” We have a vast keyboard at our disposal to play all the scores for our customers: from grape varieties in all their typicity to parcel selections in all their personality ,” sums up Vincent Chansault.
Figure Libre Freestyle: southerners to the ends of the earth
In this symphony, the Figure Libre scale plays the bold movement.
The Figure Libre Freestyle cuvées are blends of grape varieties from different parts of the Languedoc and Roussillon regions. who could never have met in appellation. Because the diversity of terroirs and climates in this region fascinates me, I wanted, with a certain greed for discovery, to experiment with the potential of this patchwork. The Pays d’Oc PGI gives us the freedom to seek out complementary expressions of grape varieties born in the region’s fresh territories. “says Vincent Chansault.
Figure Freestyle Blanc: freshness and finesse
For the 2021 vintage, harvesting of the white grape varieties that make up the Figure Libre Blanc blend took place in 2021 from August 31 to September 30. The earliest-ripening terroirs in Roussillon opened the ball: Opoul, near the sea, and Espira for some of the Grenache Blanc and Marsanne. The later-ripening terroirs of Saint Martin de Fenouillet for Macabeu and La Livinière en Minervois for Viognier followed. Vincent Chansault explains, ” Figure Libre brings to the glass the freedom of combining early ripening grapes from the seaside, refreshed by the marine influence, with later ripening vines from higher altitudes, thus combining ripeness, fruit and freshness .
Vinified in demi-muids, with stirring of the lees, and in ovoid vats, whose shape makes the lees dance through a natural convection movement, the wines gain in roundness and complexity without losing any of their finesse. The enveloping fullness of Grenache Blanc (50% of the blend) combines with the taut finesse of Macabeu (25%), the velvety substance of Marsanne (15%) and the crisp fruitiness of Viognier (10%) for a symphonic movement as invigorating as it is complex throughout.
Figure Libre Freestyle Rouge: the serene alchemy of grape varieties and territories
Here again, Freestyle links the great terroirs of Mediterranean grape varieties, from La Livinière to Roussillon, for Syrah (45%), Grenache Noir (30%), Mourvèdre (15%) and Carignan (10%). ” We vinify our reds without added sulfites, for a burst of fruit. Our impeccably clean harvest and our cellar work, which is extremely protective against oxidation, enable us to meet this technical challenge and extract pure hedonistic pleasure! “explains Vincent Chansault. A short nine-month ageing period in barrels of several wines softens the structure and melts the tannins.
Figure Libre Freestyle Rouge bridges the gap between these contrasts and plays on the complementarities of the Languedoc and Roussillon regions: its red and black fruit, adorned with hints of garrigue and pine forest, is full-bodied and aromatic, but its structure is set in a glove of finely woven tannins. Freshness, from midpalate to finish, dances on a thread of acidity and savory spices, black pepper, licorice and iris root. Between langue d’oc and Catalan, maritime and high altitude terroirs, authentic and deeply rooted grape varieties, in the crucible of Domaine Gayda, the Figure Libre blend is alchemical, to deliver all the qualities of elegance and depth of which our territories are capable in red.
