2023 Mas de Daumas Gassac, Rouge, St Guilhem-le-Désert Cité d'Aniane, Languedoc-Roussillon

A blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon 78%) plus many other varieties, including Tannat, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and 'rare varieties' such as Nielluccio, Montepulciano, Saperavi, Carménère, Tempranillo, Abouriou. Some of the plots are field blends. Hand-harvested, co-fermented at around 28 °C. Aged 18–22 months, 50% in oak part new, the rest 1–7 years old) and 50% in tank. Unfiltered. Cask sample.

Very dark with purple rim. Intoxicatingly pure and intense aroma of blackcurrants with a delicate and attractive herbal/leafy note. Floral, too. Smells very 'purple'. On the palate, this is already smooth, the tannins rounded but still deft and compact, embryonically elegant. Very primary now but has the balance and fruit quality to age for a very long time. Long finish, too.

Drink 2025 - 2035

The 2023 vintage red wine is made from around 78% Cabernet Sauvignon with some 23 other disparate varieties making up the blend.  It is a red wine like no other.  It is hand-harvested, with various field blends co-fermented.  The overall blend is assembled early in proceedings to engender balance and harmony as soon as possible in the production timeline.  A cool-ish fermentation controls the aromatics, while maturation takes place over 18-22 months, with 50% stainless steel and 50% oak, of which one-seventh is new, one-seventh one year old, and so on.  Needless to say, the oak imprint is negligible, as fruit is celebrated above all else here.  2023 was a warm vintage harvest was relatively early, from 28 August – 17 September), and you can sense wondrous generosity and alluring precocity from the moment this wine caresses your senses.

In short, this is an utterly spectacular wine, soaring at the highest level of my memories of some forty years of vintages of this wine.  Perfectly balanced, genuinely refreshing and phenomenally complex, with lashings of lavender, thyme, rosemary and stunning fresh-picked black fruit, this wine has one of the finest perfumes of the year, and the silkiness and length of finish mark is as a truly epic release.  It will blow your mind if you have never tasted Mas de Daumas.  If you have, this is one of their greatest-ever creations.  Do whatever you can to secure your stock – the experience is truly unique and the value for money is incredible.

Drink now to 2040