Here’s the full tasting note for...

Mas des Brousses, Terrasses du Larzac, 2020

Consistently the most elegant and ageworthy wine in our Languedoc portfolio; distinguished by the high proportion of Mourvèdre (about half, plus Syrah and Grenache). Seductive Mediterranean perfume of garrigue, autumnal fruit and vanilla oak. Super-smooth palate - this just melts in the  mouth - of blackberry tinged with bay leaf, menthol and liquorice. Velvety, already approachable, a sophisticated red which will keep for years. Now-2026

Deep crimson. Fabulous aroma that draws you in: it's savoury in a lightly peppery way and yet lifted and scented with red fruit and wild herbs, possibly wild flowers. Complex and layered even before you put it in your mouth. Those same unusual counterpoints on the palate, the savoury side of Mourvèdre, as well as something herbal, almost lavender-like, that is surely the terroir of this exciting region. Gorgeous and great value for such a complex and distinctive wine. Elegant, fresh, deep, scented, utterly satisfying in a medium-bodied way and VGV. I am sure this will age well over the next few years but drink it now with this complexity and intrinsic freshness of scented fruit and dry, digestible tannins. If you want heft and full body this is not for you. 17/20, 2023-2027, Julia Harding MW, www.jancisrobinson.com, 1st December 2023

"A lovely, elegant Terrasses du Larzac with savoury notes of grilled rosemary and dark berries. From Géraldine Combes and Xavier Peyraud, scion of the Peyraud family of Domaine Tempier in Bandol", Victoria Moore, The Telegraph, 7th December 2023

Brousses translates as bush, or brush; this is, literally, the farm in the garrigue. 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) tends the vines whilst husband Xavier Peyraud, grandson of the legendary Lucien Peyraud of Domaine Tempier, is the winemaker. What stands them apart from other estates in the Terrasses du Larzac is the high proportion of Mourvèdre, the vines coming from Xavier’s carefully transplanted cuttings from Tempier in Bandol. They have been organic in practice for years (with 2019 the first certified vintage) and now largely eschew sulphur in winemaking.