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Wineries · Follow your curiosity
Montirius & the Saurel Family
Names from a family, choices in the vineyard and a cellar built around concrete: Montirius opens another route into Vacqueyras and the southern Rhône.
A little acquaintance, at a glance.
- Place
- Sarrians · southern Rhône
- Family
- Christine & Eric Saurel
- Wine route
- Vacqueyras · Gigondas
- Cellar focus
- Concrete · gravity · vessel size
A family name made from three names
Montirius combines parts of the names Manon, Justine and Marius. The Saurel family’s estate history describes Eric and Christine’s work building on earlier generations, with Manon and Justine continuing the family’s involvement.
A family name should not make the rest of the team disappear. The estate’s own team page includes vineyard, cellar, bottling and office contributors. Their work connects the growing season with the finished bottle.
The decisions behind a farming change
The estate records a move away from chemical fertiliser under Max Saurel, followed by Eric and Christine’s work ending chemical weed control. It dates the conversion to biodynamic farming to 1996 and certification to 1999.
Those dates describe the producer’s farming history. They do not establish a taste that every reader must find, or make wine a health product. Ask how the practices connect with actual vineyard work and with the particular wine under discussion.
Concrete deserves its own place in the cellar story
Montirius describes a partly buried, gravity-assisted cellar and unlined concrete fermentation vats with temperature control. Its maturation vessels include different capacities of concrete, alongside stainless-steel vessels used for white and rosé wines and preparations for bottling.
The published capacities include 50, 100 and 150 hectolitres. A hectolitre is 100 litres: 150 hL is 15,000 litres. Vessel material, vessel size and time in vessel are separate choices; a large concrete vat should not be described as an oak barrel.
From the family to a particular bottle
Garrigues supplies a direct Vacqueyras connection. The producer identifies a red blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah. Its technical account gives concrete maturation rather than an oak-led recipe.
Follow that specific wine, then compare another Montirius cuvée. Do not apply one blend to all the estate’s wines or to all Vacqueyras. The harvest photograph above is regional context at Cave de Vacqueyras; it does not show Montirius’s own receiving area.
A small Cork Dork discovery
Give your curiosity a little room.
Read the Garrigues technical account alongside an oak-matured southern Rhône red. Compare grape proportions, vessel material, vessel size and time without assuming that one method is automatically superior.
Your observations, your words. Small pours welcome.
A few questions worth uncorking.
Where does the name Montirius come from?
The estate combines parts of the names Manon, Justine and Marius.
Does maturation always mean oak?
No. Montirius gives a practical route into concrete maturation.
Are a hectolitre and a litre the same?
No. One hectolitre is 100 litres; a 150 hL vat holds 15,000 litres.
From a farming story to the label.
Explore organic, biodynamic, sustainable and natural-wine terms. Separate the vineyard practices, cellar choices and certification attached to a particular wine and vintage. A producer’s history is a starting point for questions about the current bottle.
Where shall we wander next?
Rhône Valley →French Wines & Blends →French Grape Varieties →People in Wine →Vacqueyras Wines →Gigondas Wines →Grenache / Garnacha →Syrah / Shiraz →Wine Barrels & Sizes →Behind this introduction
Editorial sources checked 25 October 2026. Composition, production rules and cellar practices can vary by appellation, producer and vintage. The producer’s notes are the place to check a particular bottle.