2009 Cotes du Roussillion Village La Muntada

Hints of game and marjoram, smoky black tea and seaweed make for a long, lively and salivating finish. Gauby's 2009 Cotes du Roussillon Villages Muntada, bottled in February along with its companion Vieilles Vignes - 50% from century-old Carignan vines, 40% from old Grenache, the rest Syrah, half of it aged in a new foudre - smells intensely of incense, coniferous undergrowth, mulberries, blackberries and game (indeed, some fruit purists will think this wine has had too close contact with ungulates). Rich and baritonal, it saturates the palate with lightly cooked, surprisingly tart black fruits for the vintage, underpinned by garrigue, peat, roasted nuts and crushed stone. The tannins here are astonishingly fine-grained, but present as part of an overall impression of density that by no means excludes lightness. Maritime alkaline and saline notes on the finish stimulate salivation in a finish whose intrigue, buoyancy and deeply resonant complexity I find it hard to doubt somehow reflects the collaboration of active limestone and slate.

Grape variety: Carignan, Grenache, Shiraz

Wine Advocate (Robert Parker): 94/100

Alcohol content: 14% vol.
Allergen information: Contains sulphites

Bottler, importer: Domaine Gauby
Lieu Dit La Muntada Livraison et Enlèvement Au Village : 1, rue du Farratjal
66600 Calce
France