Mas d'Agalis

Nébian, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Mas d’Agalis is the domaine currently run by fourth generation grower Lionel Maurel in Nébian, Languedoc, located about 40km west of Montpellier in the Hérault region. 

Interestingly he is the first generation in his family to actually vinify the grapes and bottle wines under the name of the domaine. His great-grandfather and grandfather grew primarily table grapes, and it wasn’t until his father took over in the eighties that they started to replace the vines with wine grapes and slowly plant an area that has today grown to nearly eight hectares. 

The dream of making wine did not come to Lionel until his mid-twenties. He initially wanted to be a chef and got a diploma in hospitality and hotel management. In the meantime he was working at the family estate and slowly learned the craft of viticulture. He was able to get a grant as a ‘jeune agriculteur’ which involved two years working for the family business and 6 months interning elsewhere. By chance that ‘elsewhere’ turned out to be with Didier Barral in Faugères in 2000, an experience that forever changed his path and set him on a mission to hone his craft with some of the leading lights in organic & biodynamic winemaking at the time. 

Lionel spent 2001 working with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, 2002 with Thierry Allemand in the Rhône, and 2003 with Francis Poirel of Château de Suronde in the Loire. By 2004 he was back home in Nébian for the very first vintage of Mas D’Agalis. 

‘I’ve spent the last sixteen years trying to truly understand my terroir,’ says Lionel when asked about how his style has developed over the years. ‘It wasn’t until the 2017 vintage that I felt I finally got a handle on how to genuinely express my small piece of land.’ Today, Lionel uses an ‘infusion’ style of winemaking, moving away from any sort of extraction. The results are reds that are delicate and pure, showing a lightness of touch and an elegance not often seen in the region, and soft and immediate whites with a surprising freshness.

In the vineyards Lionel has worked organically from day one, working his ‘galets roullé’ soils (pebbly soil of limestone and a bit of clay) with as little interference as possible. Alongside the perhaps ‘usual suspects’ of Syrah, Carignan, and Grenache, he also farms some Cinsault, Terret, Chenin, Vermentino, and Clairette. The wines are aged in a mixture of steel tanks and old barrels for an ideal balance of roundness and pure fruit that he can adjust every year based on the vintage. 

It initially took a few years to be able to secure an initial parcel of Lionel’s wines, so we are very excited now to have developed a long standing relationship with him and to be able to champion his work. This under-the-radar winemaker is making some of the most exciting Southern French wines we’ve tried and we are thrilled to share them with you.