Domaine Leyris Mazière is located in the western hills of the Rhone River Valley, approximately 20Km north of Nîmes in southern France. Purchased in 1997, the vineyards, found at the summit of a little hill (1000 feet) are encircled by forest. The forest protects the vines from chemical products used by neighboring vineyards.  The hill, with ideal southeast orientation, has perfect drainage and sun exposure.  The very dry climate inhibits the development of maladies and the ensemble with the geographic situation is favorable for best maturity of the grapes as well as organic agriculture. 

Gilles is and his family are very selective on which bunches of grapes they allow to mature; concentrating on low yields permits them to extract a bit of magic from their parcel of vines. They really pull every bit of the Earths Flavors into them.  Recently Gilles and two of his friends built a warehouse for their wine making, in order to economize costs.  This helps us to bring these high quality wines in at a very competitive rate.

The name of the vineyard is from the family names of Gilles Leyris and that of his wife Audile Maziere. Together with their two sons Audile and Gilles started making the wines of Domaine Leyris Maziere in 1999.  Gilles recently quit his day job as chief winemaker at the cave cooperative in his local area.  He wishes to realize a wine of the earth, Thyme and Rosemary push up from every crevice in the hillsides surrounding Gilles and Audrey's lovely vineyard.

The choice of the grape variety for the top cuvee, Alicante, explains his desire. Alicante, of Spanish origin, was heavily planted at the start of the century but today it’s on the brink of extinction. Alicante, with its small yields, can create some very interesting blueberry, liquorices, chocolate and coffee characteristics, he makes this wine with the whole grape clusters and a  75 day maceration. Only 3 or 4 people still cultivate it in all of Languedoc.  Come experience the way wine tasted to our ancestors. 

The Leyris- Maziere family cultivates and sort all their grapes by hand.