France | Rhône Valley | Mas de Libian
Mas de Libian
Wines
Summary
Located in Saint Marcel d’Ardèche on the western side of the Rhône river, at the very end of the gorge of the Ardèche, Le Mas de Libian has belonged to the Thibon family since 1670. A family winery handed down from generation to generation.
Today the farm is run by sisters Helen and Catherine Thibon, as well as Hélène’s husband Alain. The vines are cultivated and hand harvested, the soils hoed by hand in the spring and Catherine Thibon ploughs roughly one third of the vineyards’ clay-limestone terroir with the help of Nestor and Babmi, the estates two Franche-Comté workhorses. The vineyards classified as Côte-du-Rhône Villages are composed of large round river rocks (galets roulés) and red clay and as such are worked by tractor.
Hélène takes little credit for her farms’ organic management, which she says has been practiced here for generations, but the Domaine became certified biodynamic (Demeter) in 2005. No chemicals are used and even in generous vintages very low yields are the norm.
The wines are fermented in unlined concrete vats with – cuvée depending – a portion of each wine being aged in large old foudres or older demi-muids. Hélène has little recourse for sulphur, which is often not used at all during the winemaking process, and the wines are never fined or filtered.
