Les Domaines Paul Mas brings disease-resistant hybrid wine varieties to market

If you’ve never heard of wine grape varieties like Souvignier Gris or Floréal you are not alone. But that could be set to change as eco-minded producers like Les Domaines Paul Mas bring disease-resistant hybrid varieties to market…

Under the fastidious eye of founder Jean-Claude Mas, Les Domaines Paul Mas has undertaken a 10-year project working with disease resistant hybrids that can better withstand oidium and mildew.

The decade-long pursuit bared fruit in 2022, with the first wines from the new range produced last year, which the Languedoc producer now plans to bring to market.

Hybrid varieties are the product of European vines (Vitis vinifera) crossed with more hardy American vines, producing grapes which are significantly more resistant to disease. This benefits producers and grape growers as it means less spraying of fungicides on the vines, in turn reducing their carbon footprint.

Jean-Claude Mas revealed the new wines to db during the Wine Paris Vinexpo Paris trade show in February. He explained that for Organic vineyards, spraying is necessary following rain in the vineyards. On an estate of 100 hectares, this represents 3,500 litres of fuel, a “huge carbon impact”, he said.

“The ones we’ve planted we need to spray only once,” he told db.

Hybrid or ‘PIWI’ varieties planted by the Languedoc producer include Souvignier Gris, Muscaris, Floréal and Prior. Mas plans to gradually introduce them to consumers in blends with more recognisable varieties — blends like Souvignier Gris and Vermentino or Souvignier Gris and Sauvignon Blanc.

Getting consumers on board is a key challenge in this endeavour, but already 10 years down the line, Mas is confident that he can recruit drinkers over time. “It will be a work in progress. It will take a few years to make people understand that they know Sauvignon but why not Souvignier; they know Chardonnay but why not Floréal?” he told the drinks business.

Les Domaines Paul Mas is currently showing these project wines to select buyers and hopes to get engagement in the short-to-medium term.

“This project is about developing self-immunity with the vines — by having a clever approach and respectful approach in our vineyards we have managed to get the vines more resistant themselves, but we need to work [on both paths] to progress faster,” Mas said.