Largely from Grenache, Cinsaut and a little Cabernet Sauvignon, this used to be a fairly rustic wine but has become so much more polished in recent years.  Black-fruited but with a  lighter, raspberry accent too. Simple, but a smooth. easy-drinking style. Now-2012

Product Code: VIC410

The Vic family - Jérome, Robert, Bruno, brothers, cousins etc. - have pooled their land, making them one of the largest landowners in the Languedoc, and collectively make their wines in a hamlet at Preignes near Beziers, ranged round an enormous courtyard. Yet it is still very much a family-owned estate, and every wine comes with some variant of the Vic or Preignes name on the label, although the vineyards are quite far-flung around Beziers.  This year’s tasting with Jérome Vic was really outstanding, hence more of their well-priced wines being listed than ever before. He thought that the 2010 vintage was particularly good for whites in the south: very cool nights enabled the grapes, harvested between 2am and 8am, to arrive in excellent condition. Several of the whites are based on Vermentino (known as Rolle in Provence, where it tends to be expensive!), also grown in Corsica and northern Italy, a grape which thrives in the heat of the Mediterranean, retaining its freshness and giving considerable weight.