Guillaume and Hélène Baron

Hélène and Guillaume Baron settled in the village of Aniane in 2014, after an extensive time spent working in Burgundy. They are now the faces behind the luminous wines of their Clos de la Barthassade.

Guillaume and Hélène met while studying viticulture and oenology in Dijon. After graduating,

Guillaume worked at a number of respected domaines, including Domaine de la Pousse d’Or in Volnay, and Dominique Derain in Saint-Aubin. As for Hélène, she was based in Beaujolais, and she assisted Sylvain Pataille, an exciting winemaker in Marsannay. 

The couple then moved together to Provence for a stint working at the groundbreaking estate of Domaine de Trévallon, although at that time they already fancied the idea of establishing their own domaine.

Impressed since the early 2000s by the quality of the wines from Terrasses du Larzac, it was clear for Guillaume and Hélène that one day they would settle in this region, located northwest of Montpellier, and offering a diversity of terroirs, as well as striking beauty.

After a few years spent tracking down vineyards, in 2013 they finally purchased 9.5 hectares of Syrah, Grenache Noir, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and Chenin Blanc, scattered through the villages of Montpeyroux, Jonquières, and Saint Saturnin, with he added bonus that the vines ranged from 30 to 40 years old, and benefited from the AOC Terrasses du Larzac.

A year later, in 2014, the ambitious couple built a cellar outside the village of Aniane, in the neighbourhood of Grange des Pères and Mas Daumas Gassac, and they produced their first vintage. They called their domaine Clos de la Barthassade, which takes its origin from the Occitan dialect ‘bartàs’, which means ‘bush, scrub’, and refers to the thick wood bordering their vineyards of Montpeyroux.

In 2018, the bright-eyed duo eventually got their hands on a parcel of Chardonnay - a cépage close to their hearts - and rented extra parcels of ancient Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and Carignan.

From the start, the vineyards were farmed organically, and nowadays the parcels scattered over a total of 14 hectares are cultivated according to biodynamic practices. The oldest parcels of bush-vines are particularly pampered and are ploughed during the Spring with the assistance of a horse.

Because their parcels are sheltered at the foothills of the Larzac mountains, the resulting wines exude freshness and aromatic expression, due to the high differences of temperatures between day and night, and due to the outstanding terroirs.

Guillaume and Hélène are extremely meticulous, and nothing is left to luck.

The two cellars - one for the reds and one for the whites - are extremely well equipped with temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, concrete eggs, and concrete tanks, along with amphoras. Most of the barrels used for ageing come from Burgundy.

Firmly committed to producing fine wine in the Terraces du Larzac, the ‘new kids on the block’ have arguably been crafting wines with a very unique character, with elegance showing beautiful purity of fruit.