France · Rhône Méridional

Mas du Notaire

A 30-hectare Costières de Nîmes estate in Gallician, between the Camargue and the Mediterranean, known for Maître, a Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache red.

The producer

Mas du Notaire sits in Gallician, in the commune of Vauvert, on sand, clay-limestone and rolled limestone pebbles left by an old Rhône bed. Mediterranean sun, seasonal rain and the Mistral shape its Costières de Nîmes wines, while the 30-hectare estate makes red, white and rosé under the appellation.

The Rambier family acquired the mid-19th-century property in 2004. Start with Maître, the estate’s documented red blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache: a dry southern Rhône shape of fruit, spice, savoury notes, body and tannin. Its blend and barrel treatment vary by vintage, so the year on the label matters.

Known for

Costières de Nîmes reds led by Maître, a Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache blend.

Notable facts

The story

The name that stayed

In 2004, the Rambier family acquired Mas du Notaire, a 30-hectare estate in Gallician that had been built in the mid-19th century. The property already bore a name from an earlier owner: in the early 20th century, one of the people who owned the mas was an honorary notary. His title became part of the estate’s name. When the Rambiers brought the vineyard into their holdings, they kept Mas du Notaire on the label. The name therefore joins two dated chapters of the property: the earlier owner whose office supplied the title, and the family that acquired the Costières de Nîmes estate in 2004.

From the atlas

Mas du Notaire

At A Glance

The Producer

Mas du Notaire is a 30-hectare estate at 4 rue Saint-Sébastien in Gallician, where the Costières de Nîmes appellation meets the flat, sunlit country between the Camargue and the coast. Built in the mid-19th century and acquired by the Rambier family in 2004, it makes red, white and rosé wines under the Costières de Nîmes name. The red Maître brings the estate’s three documented Rhône grapes—Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache—into one bottle, with vintage details that matter to how the wine tastes.

Place

Gallician sits south of the Rhône’s better-known inland slopes, close to the Camargue and the Mediterranean. That coastal position brings a strongly Mediterranean pattern of abundant sunshine and seasonal rainfall, while the Mistral moves through the vineyard. In a red Costières de Nîmes blend, that combination frames ripe fruit with dryness and freshness: Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache can reach full flavour in the sun, while wind and seasonal weather keep the growing season from becoming one-note.

Soil And Site

The ground under Mas du Notaire changes from sand to clay-limestone and rolled limestone pebbles, including stones carried by an old bed of the Rhône. Pebbles collect daytime warmth around the vines, while sand and clay-limestone bring different textures to the rooting ground. The result is not a single soil signature but a vineyard assembled from several materials, a useful context for a Costières de Nîmes red that balances fruit weight, tannin and a dry finish rather than relying on one grape alone.

Story

The estate’s name reaches back to an early-20th-century owner who was an honorary notary, while its present chapter began when the Rambier family acquired the mid-19th-century property in 2004. That continuity is tangible on a Maître label: the wine comes from a named estate with its older title intact, but from a vineyard now worked as part of the Jean-Pierre Rambier estates. The 30 hectares give the domaine room for red, white and rosé wines, while Costières de Nîmes keeps the range tied to one southern Rhône appellation.

Vineyards And Cellar

Since the 2019 harvest, the Jean-Pierre Rambier estates have held level-three Haute Valeur Environnementale certification. At Mas du Notaire, that documented estate-wide framework sits alongside a vineyard exposed to wind, sun and seasonal rain; it places environmental management in the same landscape that ripens the grapes for its reds, whites and rosés. For Maître, cellar detail is explicitly vintage-bound: the 2023 review records its élevage, and the producer gives a separate blend and barrel regime for the 2024 wine. Those versions should be treated as different wines, not as interchangeable technical recipes.

Wines

Mas du Notaire makes the three principal colours of Costières de Nîmes: red, white and rosé. The clearest named red is Maître, built from Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache; a 2020 assessment gives the proportions as 50% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre and 20% Grenache, while later vintages carry their own blend details. That structure puts colour, fruit and tannin at the centre of the red range: Syrah supplies dark-fruit and peppery character, Mourvèdre brings savoury depth and grip, and Grenache adds breadth and warmth. The white and rosé establish range breadth, but their grape mixes and cellar methods are not documented here.

In The Glass

Maître is a dry southern Rhône red whose shape begins with its three-grape blend. Syrah points the aroma toward dark fruit and spice; Mourvèdre adds a more savoury register and firmer tannin; Grenache fills out the palate with ripe red fruit and body. The reviewed 2023 vintage has its own élevage, and the producer’s 2024 version has a separately documented barrel regime, so oak character and texture should be read vintage by vintage. Across that structure, look for fruit first, then tannin and weight through the middle, with spice and savoury notes carrying the finish rather than sweetness.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Mas du Notaire Maître 2023. It is a Costières de Nîmes red of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache, and it is the vintage with the fullest documented independent review, including its production and drinking window. In the glass, it offers the most direct way into the estate’s red-wine language: dry fruit, spice, savoury depth, tannin and body shaped by a Mediterranean site. Keep the vintage on the label in view; Maître 2024 has its own published blend and barrel treatment, so the name stays constant while the wine’s balance can shift.

Anecdote

In 2004, the Rambier family acquired Mas du Notaire, an estate built in the mid-19th century in Gallician. The property already carried a name from an earlier chapter: in the early 20th century, one of its owners was an honorary notary, and the title remained attached to the mas. The Rambiers kept that name when the estate entered their holdings, so the bottles continue to carry a reference to the former owner as well as to the place itself. The acquisition brought the 30-hectare Costières de Nîmes vineyard into the family’s estates, while “Mas du Notaire” stayed on the label.

Final Word

Mas du Notaire makes most sense through its setting: old Rhône pebbles, sand and clay-limestone under Mediterranean sun and the Mistral. Maître puts that setting into a dry, structured red of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache, while the vintage tells the finer details of its blend, oak and finish.

Sources

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