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Mas des Brousses, Terrasses du Larzac, 2021

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-2027

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.