Domaine Laougué

The Dabadie family have been growing vines in Madiran since 1904, but as part of polyculture (mixed farming); indeed Pierre Dabadie was the first grower to plant Petit Manseng in 1969. In 1979 he experimented with his first bottling and then decided to concentrate on wine growing, extending the vineyards and building a winery – so creating Domaine Laougué. Pierre also established the house style of producing softer wines that didn’t need extended ageing. This philosophy has been carried on by his son, Sylvain, who also aims to gain greater recognition for the area. 

The vineyards are planted on south and south-east facing slopes with different soil types: starting with clay-loam at the bottom with small pebbles, then moving up to clay limestone with larger stones producing more structured wines. 70% of production is red from 85% Tannat, all massal selections from 80-year-old Sylvain Dabadie & Marine Rousseau Pierre Dabadie with son Sylvain vines. Petit Manseng accounts for 60% of the white and Petit Courbu 35%  –  these two are gradually replacing Gros Manseng. Cover crops are grown to help enrich the soil and avoid compaction. The conversion to organic cultivation began in 2014 and the first organically certified harvest was 2024. 

Fermentation is in stainless steel or concrete with natural yeasts and minimum sulphur. Ageing is in barrels from a local tonnellerie and the wines undergo a light filtration and no fining before bottling. These are modern-style wines with the focus on single vineyard bottlings, designed to drink well on release but also have the capacity to age well.