There 65 products in this category
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Domaines des Lampyres
Muscat a Petit Grain 50% and Muscat d;Alexandria 50% that spends one month in 'maceration' with its skins. Francois Xavier AKA 'FX'. FX worked with Tom Lubbe at Domaine Matassa for five years. He spent a further year with Domaine Danjou-Banessy. After such time this local lad set up in Espira to make his own wholly exciting wines which we are introducing the UK for the first time. Dom. des Lampyres Luminescence 2021 Vin de France 10.5% alc Muscat a Petit Grain 50% and Muscat d’Alexandria 50% all hand harvested. Muscat a Petit Grain saw whole bunch maceration for one month in stainless steel vats. The Muscat d'Alexandria saw maceration for one month in clay amphora. after being destemmed. The juices were each pressed to breeding in 5hl barrels and 10hl amphora for 8 months. A wonderful, unique and very interesting wine. The only addition is 2 g/Hl of sulphites at bottling. Production 2000 Bottles. Bottled "with the moon" April 2022.
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Domaine Danjou-Banessy
Made from 100% Cinsault that's from a single site of black shciste in Espira. The vines are 130++ years old. The medium ruby-colored wine has pretty, juicy notes of cherries, dusty spice-box and dried flowers in a medium-bodied, delicious, charming style. Elegant, thrillingly mineral and very long.
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Domaine des Soulanes
Very rare, very low production. Mineral, taught. Fine and long. One of the unsung whites of the Roussillon. A blend of Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc, Carignan Gris and Carignan Blanc. Outstanding wine. Ages gracefully for 10++ years. Beautiful vineyards that are beautifully worked.
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Domaine des Soulanes
A verry special wine from ancient plants of two of the rarest and very best vines for Soualnes terroir, Grenache Gris and Carignan Gris. This really does have everything. It's floral, honeyed orchard and citrus fruits added to its sumptuousness, its layers of texture and bright but not too spiky acidity. Very long with great balance and so much interest. Divine stuff that is here in tiny quantities. Published on decanter.com June 2022: Domaine des Soulanes, Vieilles Vignes Blanc, Côtes Catalanes, Languedoc-Roussillon, France 2021 90/100 "A lovely, vivacious white, made from Grenache Gris and the rare Carignan Gris. The aromas are forward and pretty, delicately honeyed and floral, with some bruised apple and tangy lemon. I like how the wine feels really textural and pithy in the mouth, with a fresh, herbal acidity". Drinking Window 2022 - 2031
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Domaine des Soulanes
100% old vine Carignan that was bred all in concrete tanks. Notes of leather, black cherries, plums and savory herbs all emerge from this medium-bodied, fresh, lively wine. This is seamless and gorgeous stuff from Daniel Laffite.
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Dom. des Lampyres
100% Grenache Noir bred in clay Amphora from this exciting young grower, Francois Xavier AKA 'FX'. FX worked with Tom Lubbe at Domaine Matassa for five years. He spent a further year with Domaine Danjou-Banessy. After such time this local lad set up in Espira to make his own wholly exciting wines which we are introducing the UK for the first time. Dom. des Lampyres Calentu Rouge 2021 13.5% alc 100% Grenache Noir grown in Espira-de-l'Agly. 100% hand harvested. maceration on skins for 8 days with whole bunches. Fermentation in stainless steel vats. Aging in clay amphora for 8 months. Production 2300 bottles. The only addition is 2 g/hl of sulfur at bottling. Bottled "with the moon" May 2022
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Domaine des Trinités
Made by Simon Coulshaw of the minimal-intervention school. Biodynamic farming although not certified. 100% Roussanne planted on their highest vineyards, a steep north-facing slope in the foothills of the Cévennes mountains. Isolated vineyards surrounded by herbaceous shrub and woodland on schist and basalt boulders. Hand-picked at 20-25 hl/ha, Five days' on skins then 48 hours of cold settling before racking. Spontaneous fermentation, no enzymes, no fining, minimal sulphur and sulphites. Carbon dioxide nap used to avoid oxidation.
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Domaine des Trinités
Crisp, mineral Viognier with hints of peach and apricot, a round satisfying mouth feel and great length.
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l'Autantique
100% Sauvignon grown on selceted plots of argilo-calcaire soils that's harvested at night to preserve all the elegance of the grape. De-stemming, cold maceration on the skins, static draining, pneumatic pressing, settling of the must in cold conditions and fermentation with temperature control (18°C) and a few months further aging in steel tanks. Brilliant yellow colour with green tints. A wine with powerful aromas of exotic fruit on the nose, but comes on a little more citrus on the palate (lemon and grapefruit). A very good effort. Serve chilled (8°-10°C) as an aperitif, with a salad or seafood.
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Dom. des Lampyres
This Chenin Noir is aromatic and floral with rosehip and hibiscus leading to sweet, ripe young strawberries. It's richer than the other Lampyres wines, and needs a bit of breathing/decanting time to show it's full wares. Nice tension and with a fresh, gently peppery finsih. Serve cool. Outstanding from the superb talent that is 'FX'.
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Dom. des Lampyres
100% Grenache Noir bred in clay Amphora from this exciting young grower, Francois Xavier AKA 'FX'. FX worked with Tom Lubbe at Domaine Matassa for five years. He spent a further year with Domaine Danjou-Banessy. After such time this local lad set up in Espira to make his own wholly exciting wines which we are introducing the UK for the first time. Dom. des Lampyres Calentu Rouge 2021 13.5% alc 100% Grenache Noir grown in Espira-de-l'Agly. 100% hand harvested. maceration on skins for 8 days with whole bunches. Fermentation in stainless steel vats. Aging in clay amphora for 8 months. Production 2300 bottles. The only addition is 2 g/hl of sulfur at bottling. Bottled "with the moon" May 2022
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Terres Falmet
"Stellar old vine Carignan that is supple, savoury and deeply gorgeous. Yves Falmet's varietal selections from his extraordinary single bank of vines in Creissan, Saint-Chinian go from strength to strength. Make sure you check them all out". Stewart Travers, Senior Buyer Full bottle 1,146 g. Certified HVE. Hand-picked grapes. Pesticide free. "Savoury, dark, tamari-umami fruit on the nose. Blackcurrants dipped in kombucha reduction. Bendy-firm tannins that have the grip and feel of a yoga mat. So much salty savouriness that it almost tastes like Bovril tea with a teaspoon of pomegranate molasses stirred in. But not thick or heavy at all, despite having the characteristic meatiness and rosemary-stalk ruggedness of Carignan. Wonderfully peppery towards the mid point and a fresh breath of pine needles towards the end. This is a food wine. Slow-braised beef stew, rare fire-smoky steak". Tamlyn Currin on jancisrobinson.com 16.5/20 jancisrobinson.com
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Castelnau
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Domaine des Trinités
Debuting in 2020, Dom. des Trinités La Lumière is a full maceration wine made from beautiful fruit from and outstanding single vineyard. It is intense, mineral thrilling and utterly satisfying. Grab this limited production wine before all the plaudits start flooding in. Soil and climate: The vines are planted on the highest vineyards of the steep north facing slopes in the beautiful foothills of the Cevennes mountains in an isolated position surrounded by nothing other than herbaceous shrub and woodland. The soil is a combination of schist and basalt boulders keeping a freshness and bright acidity in these deep rooting vines. Harvest and vinification: All the grapes are handpicked 2 weeks after the grapes used in the Imaginaire from the highest point in the vineyard (350M) and provide a yield of between 15 and 20 hl/ha and undergo a rigorous triage both at the vineyard and the winery. The small 15kg crates of fruit are taken straight to the winery where they are put in to tanks and left on their skins for 21 days under a nap of Carbon Dioxide at 8°C before being gently pressed. After 48 hours of cold settling the juice is racked-off the grape solids, then allowed to ferment at low temperatures (12 - 14 degrees centigrade). A carbon dioxide nap is also used throughout the entire fermentation process to avoid excess oxidation. Wild ferment, no use of enzymes or any other fining products. Tasting notes: A delicate white blossom, tangerine skin nose gives way to a rich, textured and multi-layered mouth feel, providing lush fruit with hints of lychee and grapefruit developing in to some green olive and almond on the finish.
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Domaine Treloar
Anoither beautiful vintage of this GORGEOUS and seductive staff and customer favourite. Complexity, depth, freshness and most of all, divine texture in SPADES. A great Tahi (as always).
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Domaine Treloar
Serious quality. Beautiful wine. Named after the Bruce Springteen song "Promised Land". A wild-ferment wine made from Macabeu, Grenache gris and Carignan blanc. Fermented and aged on lees in barrels for 9 months. It has a complex nose of river stones, quince and buttered toast. The palate combines flavours of pears and citrus with a long, spicy finish. Just brilliant. Top marks.
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Mas Sibert
70 % Sangiovese, 30% Syrah, is amongst the very best in the Languedoc. Intense color, pretty aromas of white flowers. With a nice roundness, this wine will accompany your grilled fish, garnished summer salads, crustaceans etc.
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Domaine Treloar
Treloar's newest wine - a 100% Muscat fermented on its skins like a red wine. So, technically an orange wine, although it's pale lemon and clear, so not what you would guess - by appearance or nose - to be an orange wine. And it smells extraordinarily of roses - not Gewurz-like rose, which has a candied, rose-petal-essence kind of character, but the smell that you would only know if you've been lucky enough to bury your nose in the blousy, intense-pink exuberance of the Gertrude Jekyll English rose. It's a fresh fresh old-fashioned rose smell. Kumquats on the palate, and dry ginger spice, and Asian pears and borage. Gentle, floral, but not loose. Soft but structured, like a feather: vane and quill. You can feel the tannins, gently pressing into the wine like a child's palm. A fabulous addition to the Treloar stable - full of foodie possibilities... It will be interesting to see how it ages. I may have massively underestimated the cellaring potential. GV ." Tamlyn Currin 16.5/20 jancisrobinson.com
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La Croix Gratiot
The medium-ruby colored IGP Pays D'Oc Les Zazous (100% Pinot Noir) offers a pretty, elegant style as well as attractive notes of dried cherries, dusty soil and spice. It's charming, has no hard edges and a clean finish, all of which make it ideal for drinking over the coming couple of years.
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Mas Lumen
Final assemblage: 55% Syrah, 35% Carignan & Cinsault and 15% Grenache Noir. Organically grown on schist, basalt and grés (sandstone) that yielded beautifully balanced fruit but at a very low 15 hl per ha. Manual harvest into small caskets. The Syrah and Grenache were both destemmed and vinified separately in 2yr and 5yr old 500l barrels (Saury). The Carignan was vinified on stems and in steel tank. The Cinsault was destemmed and vinified in steel tank. Natural yeast (no inoculated yeast used). Breeding took place in 2yr and 5yr old 500l barrels (Saury) for the Syrah and Grenache, and in steel tank for the Cinsault and Carignan, for a total time of 32 months with no batonnage. Bottled without fining or filtration. Bottled with a very, very low addition of sulphites (no sulphite additions at any point previously). No other additions at all. The wine has interest, complexity and depth, it is beautifully resolved - an elegant and pretty red-fruited wine with delightful freshness and length. With this quality and with the wines age, it’s a very nice offer indeed. The wine was selected (with one of the very highest scores) as one of 80 ‘Coups de Coeur’ by Guide Gault & Millau for the year 2020 Review below - "The colour appears black, intense with purple reflections. The nose presents an elegant maturity with predominantly fruity cherry and blackberry punctuated by spicy notes (pepper, cinnamon). In the mouth, the cherry is very present with other stone fruits (plum, prune). The leather and cocoa prolong a very fresh and digestible finish. The texture is dense and velvety. A complex and racy wine that evolves beautifully without losing its beautiful tension".
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Domaine des Soulanes
An absolute classic Roussillon 'house' blend from the master Daniel Laffite (the hardest working man with the hands to prove it!). The classic Soulanes recipe of richness, purity of beautiful fruit, freshness and seamlessness. Delicious and underpriced. This wine never lets you down.
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Terres Falmet
Another outstanding Mourvedre-led Languedoc Rose. Yves Falmet has spent time selecting the best plots on his single slope of vines in Creyssian Saint-Chinian for the production of a fresh (12% abv) Rose. Pale pink colour, with classic, deep and full Mourvedre aromatics leading to a medium bodied, fresh palate that is citrus led with tangy tamarind, stony deliciousness and good minerality. This is an utterly outstanding bargain. A very serious, utterly drinkable Rose.
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Terres Falmet
"Stellar old vine Carignan that is supple, savoury and deeply gorgeous. Yves Falmet's varietal selections from his extraordinary single bank of vines in Creissan, Saint-Chinian go from strength to strength. Make sure you check them all out". Stewart Travers, Senior Buyer
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La Croix Gratiot
The medium-ruby colored IGP Pays D'Oc Les Zazous (100% Pinot Noir) offers a pretty, elegant style as well as attractive notes of dried cherries, dusty soil and spice. It's charming, has no hard edges and a clean finish, all of which make it ideal for drinking over the coming couple of years.
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Gayda
Pale colour with aromas of strawberries and cream. Summer fruits, fresh lively style with crisp acidity, creaminess and a well balanced finish. The Flying Solo range flies in the face of convention, shunning international varieties in favour of the typical Mediterranean Grenache grape which forms its backbone, blended Cinsault. It celebrates the intrepid ‘Aéropostale’ pilots who risked life and limb to ensure postal deliveries in the 1920s
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Danjou-Banessy
This Roboul cuvée exudes lifted fruit aromas in abundance with blackberries, blueberries, pomegranates and also gentle garrigue notes. On the palate it is velvety with curious, beautiful interest. There is a perfect balance between alcohol and acidity and it ends with a striking freshness. It's a marvelous wee wine. Full bottle 1,341 g. Single vineyard. 60% Mourvèdre (20 years old), 40% Grenache (30 years old) on pudding stone, clay, sand and limestone tuffeau. Hand-picked; whole-bunch, spontaneous fermentation; minimal cap work; very gently pressed. Fermented separately because the Mourvèdre ripens so much later than the Grenache. 12 months in old oak barrels of 600, 500 and 400 litres. "If I’d not known what this wine was, and put it to my nose, my first guess would be Pinot Noir, Tasmania. Rosehips. Nectarine skin. Hibiscus tea. Morels. Then, after tasting it, I’d change my mind. I’d wonder if this was Cinsault, one of Alex Milner’s wraith-like beauties, perhaps: the bruised rose petals, the jasmine tea, the taste of prickly pears and dust and pungent-peppery-green at the back of my throat. Then I smell garrigue - cistus, broom heather, wild thyme, the smell of the wind blowing through holm oaks and twisted pines and I am in the south of France. This is the fey child of Roussillon. This is a wine that dances in the thin places". Very Good Value. Tamlyn Currin on jancisrobinson.com 18/20 jancisrobinson.com
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Domaine Combe Blanche
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Domaine Treloar
A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre with a light touch of oak from ageing in older barriques. The Mourvedre is noticeable in the aroma of leather.Full mouth, velvety soft, aromatic purity of fruit, flowers and wood. Full bottle 1,166 g. Old vines, hand-picked. "Strikingly unusual nose – I can smell guava jam (something I haven’t smelt in 27 years) and tamarillo, rose hips and wood polish, and a tiny, intense floral note that makes me think of walking in the garden on a hot summer night. Wonderful freshness. It has the cool rustle of walking through russet leaves in autumn woodland. A touch of tamarind paste, white pepper, za’atar, baharat. I love the sense of metal sculpture I get in this wine – it’s not that I am literally tasting iron or rust or copper or pewter, but when I taste this wine, it’s like the wine version of a Rochelle Ford metal sculpture. It carries in its molecules the twist and sinews of the old vine trunks, the battering and weathering of nature and time, the glow of a thousand sunsets, edges and angles, sheen and rust, rain and dust". VGV (TC) jancisrobinson.com
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Chateau Rives-Blanques
100% Mauzac from one parcel at 300 m on a plateau of Eocene molasse (marl, sandstone, schist, pebbles). In final year of conversion to organic certification, natural cover cropping. Yields 32 hl/ha. 60-year-old vines. Hand-sorted, only best free-run juice used. Fermented and aged in seasoned oak barrels with occasional bâtonnage. RS 0 g/l, TA 3.39 g/l, pH 3.29.
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Terres Falmet
Glorious old vine Mourvedre from the wonderful Yves Falmet (who is as vegan as his wines). Yves has a single, steep vineyard of old vine varieties planted in southern Saint-Chinian. Mourvedre cannot be used 100% and be called Saint Chinian, so this is a Vin de France. Silky, fine and long, with vibrant fruit, great balance and perfect ripeness. An amazing value wine. "Yves Falmet is doing something so special that people should be sitting up and taking notice. I’m becoming convinced that he is making some of the most elegant wines in the Languedoc. His 2020 Mourvèdre is yet another confirmation of his almost wizard-like ability to make a cashmere silky, jewelled-fruit wine out of a grape that I usually find stomps in heftily, wearing a scowl, muddy steel-toe-cap boots and thick dark canvas overalls, smoking a Gauloises, smelling of farmyard and uttering not much in an unintelligible mutter. This wine smells of jasmine, violet and pomegranate molasses. Sure, there is a lick of smoke, but it’s folded into deeply sweet dark fruit – blueberry, black fig, blackberry – and a sheath of tissue-paper-and-600-thread-cotton-textured tannins". Very Very Good Value. Tamlyn Currin on jancisrobinson.com 17.5/20 jancisrobinson.com
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Domaine Gayda
Pale lemon gold with an explosive nose. Lovely flavours of apricot, peach and acacia blossom give way to an elegance and freshness balancing perfectly the richness of the grape.
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Gayda
Explosion of red fruits on the nose, including raspberry, cherry and ripe strawberry. The palate is smooth and rich with very soft tannins and clean acidity. This is medium bodied with a pleasing finish.
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Domaine Comelade
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Chateau Rives-Blanques
This domaine's showpiece wine is made using the best Chardonnay grapes, fermented and matured in French oak. Burgundian and silky in style, Odyssée featured on the dream wine list of three 'Best Sommelier in the World' winners.
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Terres Falmet
A blend of mourvèdre, grenache noir, syrah and carignan. From the south of the Saint Chinian appellation. There's a slightly confected feel to the nose, but also some stony minerality. Very silky, fresh flavours and textures in the mouth. Lovely peppery spice on the finish. Full bottle 1,150 g. Certified HVE. Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah and Carignan from steep, pesticide-free vineyards in the south of St-Chinian. "A touch of glacé cherry on the nose, crushed ripe raspberries, fine-crushed wet gravel. Unusually fine tannins – this really plays in the mouth on tiptoes. Lovely carpaccio layers between the cool red fruit, threaded with rosemary and sansho pepper and sarsaparilla. A particularly delicate expression of St-Chinian, but that's not to say it's insubstantial. If you prefer your reds elegant, this is for you". Good Value. Tamlyn Currin on jancisrobinson.com 16.5/20 jancisrobinson.com
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Domaine Comelade
Lionel Comelade produces this stunning wine from ancient vine Macabeu and Grenache Gris grown on amazing black and white schist soil vineyards between Estagel and Latour de France in the Roussillon. Both white grapes were harvested later in the season in 1988 with high sugar levels. The grapes were partially fermented in concrete vats and then neutral brandy was added to stop fermentation and keep natural sweetness in the wine. Then the wine was passed to second use oak barrels and left in the cellar for 32 years before bottling (to order). No ‘topping up’ of the barrels occurred in the 32 years. The wine is tremendous, possibly surpassing the 1987. It is ‘ambre’ in colour. A bright, wild nose with orange rind, orange oil and warm spices. The pallet is thrilling with great complexity and depth with thrilling, wild acidity which really charms. Astonishing and quite unique. The wine is one of the best value fortified wines in the world. 32 years of age, so interesting and delicious. A steal at this price.
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Domaine des Trinités
Beautifully resolved and brilliant Faugeres in a handy lunch time 50cl format. A dreamy bin-end offer. Snap it up!
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Domaine des Trinités
Crisp, mineral Viognier with hints of peach and apricot, a round satisfying mouth feel and great length. “Before I go any further, note well that this is not a white wine to serve fridge cold. It may not be a big oak bomb but having tasted it really cold and then as it warmed up to room temp, it hit its sweetest spot between 12 and 16 °C (54–62 °F). Like the 2019 of this wine, it's not like any other Viognier you'll come across. It smells of linden blossom and silkworm cocoons and fresh chestnuts and cobnuts. On the colder side, it tastes like sliced white peaches dipped in ice and mint leaves. As it warms, the tension in the wine turns silk and the peaches turn red. There's a cut of smoke that comes and goes like a wind-blown shadow on a white stone wall; and the finish curves back in on itself as if to say, 'let's do it again!'. But it leaves a trail of vineyard mint, the lick of rain-wet stones, a fine thread of bitterness on the finish. Underpriced. This is nowhere near as simple as it sounds when Coulshaw says, 'the aim is to make a clean, fresh wine'. It's transmitting terroir and fruit, loud and clear. Very Good Value. (TC) jancisrobinson.com 17/20 jancisrobinson.com
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Domaine Treloar
A big favourite of ours for a decade from one of our handful of world-class Roussillon growers. "It says Mourvèdre on the front label but it's actually only 75% of that rich, spicy variety, apparently, plus 20% Syrah and 5% Grenache. Yield was only 20 hl/ha on pebbly clay-limestone at 150–200 m in the middle of the Aspres cru. Aged for 12 months in American oak barriques (20% new). Total SO2 47 mg/l. The back label says 14% but the tech spec says 13.4% alcohol. Deep healthy crimson. Headily scented ripe blackberry cordial (Mourvèdre all right!). Admirably fresh palate with a lightness of touch. Gentle, approachable fruit with an interesting undertow. Racy. (Which is good!) A certain meatiness in Mourvèdre vein but not excessively warm and alcoholic. Quite long. A very pleasing whole." 16.5/20 Tamlyn Currin jancisrobinson.com
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Domaine Madeloc
A Traditional Banyuls, sweet, complex and marvellous, aged partly in glass bonbonnes which are exposed to the sun to achieve rancio characters, and part in old foudre. Banyuls Robert Pages is a blend of Grenache (90%) and Grenache Gris (10%). With 80 g/l residual sugar, this traditional style is a striking, fleshy wine with complex aromas of baked plums, dried figs, bitter orange, coffee, vanilla and spices. Incredibly complex and layered, the palate is opulent, round and sweet yet with a fresh and pure nutty finish. It is an excellent match with blue cheeses such as Roquefort or Gorgonzola or with a cheese plate in general.