"I was bowled over by the quality of this magnificent, fat, ripe, juicy Merlot, topped up with grenache and a touch of cinsaut, seductively scented with Christmas spice", Jane Macquitty, 50 best red wines for Christmas, The Times, Saturday, December 10th, 2011

Product Code: MAB110

Soft deep ruby. Such a consistent nose on this wine: it always smells of black fruit lifted with herbs. Black plum and berries, very ripe - the fruit just attractively cooked. Juicy. Some tannin - this will improve through the summer. Pleasantly long. This always offers smooth and classy drinking, so food-friendly. Now-2013

Brousses translates as bush, or brush; this is, literally, the farm in the brush. Amidst the rolling scrub-covered hills around Puéchabon and the pebble-strewn terrasses near the Hérault river lie the domaine’s plots of vines. Tall Géraldine Combes (from a family who have inhabited Puéchabon, near Gignac, since 1525) juggles looking after three small boys with tending the vines. She had been out pruning and burning the cuttings on my latest visit, and apologised for smelling of the bonfire - she is tough! Husband Xavier Peyraud, grandson of the legendary Lucien Peyraud of Domaine Tempier, is the winemaker. Their first vintage was only 1997, and some of their grapes still go off to the local co-operative.

Chasseur is an old favourite here, named after the African bee-eater (= chasseur) which can be seen over the vines in summer. The blend is about 60% Merlot with Grenache and a little Cinsaut, a wine with Bordelais style from the garrigue, the herby scrub which surrounds the vineyards here. Their appellation wine is a blend of about half and half Syrah and Mourvèdre, aged largely in old oak: this always seems to show some of the fragrance of the land, fresh and pine-scented.