Olivier Decelle
Mas Amiel
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Anecdotes about the domain
Olivier DECELLE discovered the MAS AMIEL thanks to Jacques BOISSENOT, a great Médoc oenologist. He falls under the spell of this wild nature and harsh landscapes. In 1999, he left the presidency of PICARD to devote himself fully to the field.
The domain's short story
The story of Mas Amiel begins like in a movie: in 1816, around a gambling table, the bishop of Perpignan is opposed to an engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées, Raymond Etienne Amiel. The churchman, perhaps short of cash, ends up betting one of his lands, then called Domaine des Goudous. At the end of the 19th century, phylloxera arrived in France and decimated most of the French vineyards. Camille Gouzy, a wine merchant from Millas, found the solution by replanting American vines resistant to phylloxera. He joined forces with the son Amiel and the winegrowers of the Agly valley and offered to save their vines. He then built a cellar on the Mas Amiel with twenty barrels representing a total capacity of 7,000 hectoliters. The estate was then taken over by the Dupuy family who developed and produced a natural sweet wine under the brand name Mas Amiel. The family will ensure the continuity of this policy of expansion until 1997, date of death of the last son Charles Dupuy. When Olivier Decelle discovered Mas Amiel, one day in October 1999 in the middle of a tramontana, it was love at first sight. He took root in the domain, learned the rudiments of the trade on the job and produced dry wines, Côtes du Roussillon Villages, reds and whites, a first in Maury. Since then, it has been a school since the AOC Maury Sec is created in 2011 by the NAO. In 2011, a new appellation finally appears to identify and promote dry wines as opposed to sweet wines in the area of Maury.
The winemaker's pride
Illustrious domain which acquired its Biodynamic Biodyvin certification since 2017 (2018 harvest can be claimed in conversion, 2019 harvest 100% certified Biodynamic). At the gates of the Cathar country, MAS AMIEL is protected by the ancient citadel QUERIBUS, to the North by the Corbières and to the South by the foothills of the Pyrenees. Its climate is unique in France: 260 days of sunshine per year and only 370 mm of rain. MAS AMIEL has built a worldwide reputation with its natural sweet mutated wines. Today, its parcel or blended wines in the Maury sec and Côtes du Roussillon appellations are distinguished by the greatest tasters; 170 hectares including 130 parcels. A historical heritage, MAS AMIEL presents a richness in the diversity of its terroirs, its landscapes and its 130 parcels. Each parcel of about 2 HA has its own identity (exposure, altitude...), a type of soil (schist, calcoschist, gneiss...) and specific grape varieties (Carignan, Grenache, Lladoner Pelut).