Mas Picas

It was in 2006 that Stéphan Picas planted the first vines of Mas Picas, in the commune of Corconne, between Montpellier and Nîmes, in the heart of the vineyard of the Pic Saint-Loup appellation. The estate now has 24 hectares managed under organic farming, divided between the Pic Saint-Loup PDO, the Languedoc PDO and the Pays d'Oc PGI. Corconne, listed among France's olive-growing towns, is also home to a hectare of olive grove planted mainly with Picholine, whose oil is cold-extracted.

The vineyard occupies the first foothills of the Cévennes, under a Mediterranean climate characterized by 290 days of sunshine per year, an average temperature of 14 °C, rainfall of around 1,000 mm and the influence of both the mistral and the tramontane. The soils of Corconne combine alluvial gravel and Quaternary clay-limestone soil, to a depth of up to eight metres, which the winegrowers call “Gravette”. The appellation covers seventeen communes, from the north-east of the Hérault to the Gard communes, and only red and rosé wines are produced there.

The vines are pruned using the double Royat cordon and trained on two to three wires to optimize sun exposure and limit cluster crowding; debudding and green harvesting complete this work. For the reds and rosés of the Pic Saint-Loup appellation, the estate works with Syrah, Grenache Noir and Cinsault. The Pays d'Oc PGI plots combine northern grape varieties, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot, with southern varieties such as Rolle, Marsanne, Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc. A hectare of Sangiovese, trained on a trellis, was planted in 2023 to cope with drought and fungal diseases.

About fifty ewes of the Raïole breed, originally from the Cévennes, graze the vineyard from early autumn to early spring; their droppings feed soil fertility while the flock reduces the passage of farm machinery. Public visits take the form of a guided tour of about one hour devoted to the estate's history, terroir and winemaking, or a winegrower's walk through the plots followed by an outdoor tasting, moved to the tasting room between 1 October and 31 March.