Gaillac, Midi-Pyrénées 81600

A 19th-century family home, with a walled garden, cellars and storehouses, in the old centre of Gaillac, a dynamic southwestern French town. This former urban wine-making property was built in 1827 and stands around a vast cobbled courtyard that can be reached via a long, covered passageway leading through the old outbuildings. Behind a tall carriage gate, the property makes up a small complex formed by the main residence and several outbuildings, paying witness to its wine-making past. The three-storey main residence boasts a sober and harmonious architecture that is typical of 19th-century upper middle-class homes in Gaillac. Local brickwork is visible here and there on the rendered facades, while the doors and windows are fitted with wooden shutters. The main entrance door is topped by an ironwork-adorned fanlight bearing the date of the edifice's construction. It opens into a long corridor running through the house from the courtyard to the garden. Around the courtyard and garden, there are almost 550 m² of outbuildings, including the former wine storehouses, cellars, storerooms and a garage, as well as the estate manager's lodgings, which today require restoration. The property stands on an approximately 1,300-m² plot, 500 m² of which is occupied by a walled garden. Its size, location in the town and state of conservation make the property, which is one of the few remaining large, urban, wine-making residences that contributed to the prosperity of Gaillac, a rare one.