Chateau Lascaux

The vineyards of Château de Lascaux have been in the family for thirteen generations. The name of the domaine, “Lascaux” comes from a limestone specific to vineyard sites.

Jean-Benoît Cavalier took direction of the property in 1984, just after finishing a degree in Agricultural Engineering. In 1990, he consolidated the vineyards, restructured the ancient cellars, and created Château de Lascaux. The domaine has expanded from twenty-five to eighty-five hectares of vineyards, surrounded by three hundred hectares of forest, filled with green oaks and pines trees. The quiet isolation of this part of the region, coupled with its proximity to both the sea and the mountains, makes this microclimate so unique. It is nestled along the foothills of the Cevennes, a mountain range that sits in the heart of south of France.

These foothills protect the vines from the cool Mistral winds, and bring more rain to an otherwise dry climate. The temperate zone brings a long, slow ripening of the grapes and adds to the wines complexity. The stony soil lends finesse and freshness to the grapes, giving the reds greater aging potential than wines grown in other Languedoc soils.

Philosophy

Jean-Benoît is passionate about supporting the richness and diversity of his vineyards ecosystem, so the domaine conversion to organic viticulture was a logical choice.

The vineyard is totally integrated into a natural environment of incredibly rich biodiversity providing protection and diversity of expression.

Syrah, Genache and Mourvèdre with a small quantity of Cinsault compose the majority of the vineyards and are grown with low yields. The density of plantation has been increased from 4,900 to 5,800 vines per hectare planted versus an average of 4,000 vines per hectare in the area.

All the grapes are totally de-stemmed and extensive sorting out is conducted to ensure the highest quality of fruit. Lengthy maceration of the grapes and fermentation in cement tank for a long period of time using indigenous yeasts for the red wines is the favorite process of making red wine at Chateau Lascaux. No S02 used during the fermentation, just a little added for the ageing and bottling process. The rosés are first cold soaked and directly pressed once the must is cooled off for the three varietals to avoid coloring. The white grapes are also cold soaked for a short time before pressing the grapes.
The fermentation is done without using S02 but some added for ageing and bottling like the red wines. The wines are lightly filtered.

There is a freshness, purity and complexity in the Lascaux wines that is rare in this wild landscape.