Wine & Spirits - June 2018 - 58

YEAR'S BEST LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON
tle syrah and grenache, fermenting it with
ambient yeasts in stainless steel. It's a hint
natchy, with a little acetic funk at first, but
those elements soon fade as the fruit comes
up, savory, juicy and expansive. It smells of
bay leaves, sage and warm, dusty earth and
tastes as meaty as a Mangalitsa pork chop. It
would be delicious with one, as well. § Jenny &
François Selections, NY
229582

91 | Château des Aladères

$32

90 | Domaines Barons de
Rothschild (Lafite)

$20

2015 Corbières Barrique Réserve ^ Sleek and
spicy, this carries its concentrated, plummy
fruit on soft yet persistent tannins. It feels
firm and elegant, notes of garrigue and blackpepper spice adding lift and detail. § W. Direct,
Sonoma, CA
224087
2015 Corbières Blason d'Aussières ^ The
second wine from the Rothschild's Corbières estate, this blends syrah, grenache,
mourvèdre and carignan with just a touch
of oak from the 20 percent that spent time
in barrels. More noticeable are the scents of
garrigue that saturate the fruit, notes of wild
oregano and rosemary that lift the earthy flavors and give it a firm sense of place. § ShawRoss Int'l, Miami, FL

C O T E S C A TA L A N E S

red-berry fruit providing an undercurrent of
juiciness. Pleasantly rustic, it would be delicious this winter with a thick cut of meat or a
wild-mushroom fricassee. § Kysela Père et Fils,
Winchester, VA

LANGUEDOC

228767

90 | Department 66

$25

2014 Côtes Catalanes Others (Best Buy) ^
Less intense than the D66 (also recommended here), this blend of grenache, carignan, syrah and mourvèdre has a sultry,
smoky flavor, notes of coffee and toffee wrapping around the tangy red fruit. It's sunny
and ripe, with enough tannins to keep it
structured but not impede the smooth, sleek
texture. § Bloodlines, Sausalito, CA

COTES DE TH ONGUE
229462

86 | Les Chemins
de Bassac

$15

2015 Côtes de Thongue Isa Rouge (Best
Buy) ^ An unusual blend of grenache, mourvèdre and syrah with cabernet sauvignon and
pinot noir grown just north of Béziers, this
tastes like a country wine in the best way: It's
fresh and friendly, with no pretentions, with
a beety rootiness and rhubarb tang. It's light
enough to pour with pasta in a meat ragout. §
Jenny & François Selections, NY

FA U G E R E S

228768

92 | Department 66

$38

2014 Côtes Catalanes D66 Grenache ^ Dave
Phinney, the winemaker who founded The
Prisoner and Orin Swift, bought a vineyard
in Maury in 2008 and built a winery the next
year. He now farms more than 300 acres of
vineyards in the region's black schist, most of
the vines over 60 years old. This wine, a blend
of grenache with small amounts of syrah
and carignan, starts out intensely sweet, the
cherry fruit as ripe and dense as jam. But if
you decant it, a low growl of tannins emerge
alongside an earthy minerality that firms it
up. It tastes, in fact, like a dry wine from a
sweet-wine appellation, an intriguing bottle
to open with spicy lamb sausages or boar
chops. § Bloodlines, Sausalito, CA

58

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2018

$22

87 | Jeff Carrel

$16

2015 Coteaux du Languedoc Bronzinelle ^
A blend of syrah, mourvèdre, carignan and
grenache, this underwent carbonic maceration in stainless steel, then part of the lot
aged in used oak barrels for a year. The result
is both tangy and smoky, fresh and chocolatey. With a day open, the herbal, peppery
scents get the upper hand, bringing in extra
freshness, while the tannins tighten their grip
on the fruit-signs that this should age well
over the next few years in the cellar. § Soilair
Selection, NY
229328
2016 Languedoc Les Darons (Best Buy) ^ A
fresh, peppery red blended from grenache
with a little syrah and carignan, this is light
and brisk, with hints of tobacco leaf and
dusty earth to keep its cherry fruit rooted
firmly in southern France. § Hand Picked Selections, Warrenton, VA
228699

$35

2014 Faugères ^ Didier Barral eschews syrah
for this blend, focusing instead on the
Languedoc natives carignan, grenache and
cinsault. The vines are 40 to 70 years old,
growing on schist, and he's farmed them biodynamically since the 1990s. The result is a
wine that feels impossibly vibrant and youthful for a four-year-old, the fruit bright red,
tangy and pure. Yet there's nothing sweet or
heavy about it: Notes of bay leaf, rose petals
and a touch of pickle come through its gauzy
layers, keeping the wine light and breezy,
elegant and thirst quenching. § Kermit Lynch
Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA
229383

90 | Mas des Capitelles

90 | Château Saint Martin
de la Garrigue

MINERVOIS L A LIVINIERE

229647

92 | Domaine Léon Barral

229714

$19

2015 Faugères Vieilles Vignes (Best Buy) ^ If
you like the chewy, leathery notes of old-vine
carignan, you'll appreciate this wine. Based
on biodynamically farmed, 80-year-old carignan with 20 percent mourvèdre, it smells
like blood sausage hitting a hot cast-iron
pan, sanguine and meaty scents blending
with notes of cinnamon and bay leaf. Those
savory notes carry through the flavors, too,

92 | Château Maris

$80

88 | Château Maris

$17

2015 Minervois La Livinière Dynamic ^
From a parcel of biodynamically grown syrah
at about 1,000 in altitude, at the top of La
Livinière, this wine lives up to its name, contrasting its black fruit with the coolness of a
stone cave. It feels superripe yet superfresh-
not just-pressed, but picked à point, the fruit
skins taut and the flesh meaty and firm, the
tannins mineral and the acidity vibrant. The
wine lasts for days after opening, picking up
herbal tones that continue the refreshing
feel. § Verity Wine Partners, NY
228700
2015 Minervois La Livinière Natural
Selection (Best Buy) ^ Biodynamically grown,
this blend of syrah with 30 percent grenache
buzzes with pure red-raspberry flavor, juicy
and pleasantly raspy. The flavors are not
long, but they are firm, with a cool earthy
note that keeps the wine refreshing. § Verity
Wine Partners, NY
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2018
