Gabriel Meffre

Gabriel Meffre is a large wine business in the southern Rhône Valley. It produces its own wines, and also acts as a négociant-éleveur, aging wines made by other producers.

The company was formed in Gigondas in 1936, after Gabriel Meffre (1908-87) bought vineyards in the area. As the company grew, Meffre invested in further vineyard holdings in the Rhône and Provence, and in the early 1980s was the largest producer of AOC wines in France, with more than 900 hectares (2224 acres) of vines. In 1990, a few years after Meffre's death, Allied Domecq bought the company from the Meffre family. In 2009, Eric Brousse took over the business in partnership with Jean-Claude Boisset.

From the 1990s, the estate began to update equipment and add new brands to the portfolio (including Fat Bastard Chardonnnay, Wild Pig Syrah, and the Gabriel Vin de France range). It also began to look to other export markets, and established relationships with various winemakers in the Languedoc to produce a range of varietal wines from that region.

The core of the portfolio remains the wines from northern and southern Rhône appellations including Gigondas, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and Vacqueyras under the Gabriel Meffre label. The Laurus range represents Meffre's top tier, and consists of wines from several of the Rhône's top appellations. 

Gabriel Meffre has also acquired Domaine de Longue Toque in Gigondas and Château Grand Escalion in the Costières de Nîmes appellation.