Claude Val Rose 2017

Jean-Claude Mas was born in a winemaking environment in the Languedoc, in Pezenas. At the age of 3, during harvest, he escaped from his mother and ran 2.5 km to meet his grandfather in the cellar. This was a moment that he never forgot, when his interest and passion for wine was born.

At school and later at university, he studied economics and advertisement, and wine was only a hobby. No matter where he lived, he was always involved in wine: in the North of France, he created a wine club, then in Englanc, he set up a small import company for organic wines, then in Miami he worked in the consulate to develop the import and distribution of French food & wine products.

In his professional life, he devoted the first 3 years of his career to his second passion: car and moto races, but not after long, he came back to his first love: wine.

At the beginning of the 1990s, he worked 4 years in Bordeaux. This experience in the wine world was determining, as he had his encounter with one of the most famous Italian winemakers, Giorgio Grai, in 1992. He taught him the art of blending and how to create wines with style. This teaching process has in fact never stopped.

In 1995, he did his first blendings for the family at Nicole Estate. Jean-Claude Mas is often described as a pioneer from the New Languedoc, belonging to the New wave of French wines, one who is on a mission to give back Languedoc its former glory in a region where wine production goes back to more than 2000 years.