Clos Maïa is a wine estate on the Terrasses du Larzac that embodies the new generation of winemakers in search of authenticity.
For Géraldine Laval, the winemaker at Clos Maïa, it's all been a story of encounters, often fortuitous, sometimes provoked, of love at first sight and, above all, of passion and instinct. In just a few years, this young, enthusiastic winemaker with an assertive temperament has brought her Clos Maïa, a small, isolated vineyard at the center of the map of great Languedoc wines, to the forefront of the wine scene.
Nothing predestined her to become a winemaker
Although she hails from the Bordeaux region, Géraldine had no particular attachment to the world of wine. As a youngster, it was her passion for horses and horse-riding that drove her to enter a sports-study program. Her family wanted a more secure future for her. So she began studying pharmacy. However, she soon realized that she was going in the wrong direction. A gourmet with a fine palate, Géraldine also dreamed of becoming a food journalist. As there was no dedicated training, she finally enrolled in a course of study in the wine trade, which was very popular in Bordeaux. She soon realized that it was the secrets involved in making this precious nectar that fascinated her. Incredibly energetic and endowed with an insatiable curiosity, she didn't hesitate to head for Beaune to study oenology.
Encounters that changed her life
Géraldine had found her calling and, from the mid-2000s onwards, continued to make her mark in the often closed and still very male-dominated world of vines and fine wines! One meeting followed another: first with Olivier Leflaive, an iconoclastic winemaker from Puligny-Montrachet, with whom she learned, among other things, to master Burgundian-style ageing, particularly for whites. It was then with Jean-Louis Chave, a tutelary figure on the Hermitage hill, that she began to put into practice what she had learned at school. A few months later, at the invitation of Julien Zernott from Pas de l'Escalette, she discovered the wild landscapes and formidable terroirs nestling in the heart of the Terrasses du Larzac.
A Larzac icon is born
Quickly spotted by the region's iconic winemaker, Olivier Jullien, she eventually spent a year at Mas Jullien, making wine alongside the man she still considers her mentor. In her own words: "What I was learning corresponded exactly to my philosophy. Everything I was doing with Olivier suddenly made sense. Following Olivier's advice, she finally decided to strike out on her own in 2009, having unearthed two plots of old Grenache nestling in the heart of the cirque de Labeil, straddling the villages of Lauroux and Poujols: Clos Maïa was born!
The wines of the Clos Maïa wine estate have a real soul, providing a unique and vibrant sensation of tasting wines built around a true love story. The first cuvée, Le Petit Clos, is a juicy, vibrant, fruity wine that can be enjoyed with any number of dishes. Clos Maïa Blanc is a deep, stimulating wine that reveals superb ripeness and a mineral imprint that lends tone. Clos Maïa Rouge is the emblematic wine of the wine estate, a wine for laying down that reveals spicy notes, hints of blood and scents that take you on a journey through the garrigue.
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