Two Carignans

Other than the extraordinary Le Carignan 1998 from Domaine d'Aupilhac I haven't said much about pure red Carignans. It's well understood these days that old vines with self-regulating low yields on poor soil can give Carignan the one thing it normally lacks; interesting fruit flavours to contrast the clumsy tannin and acidity it possesses in spades. These two examples illustrate this, and at around 8€ and 9€ respectively are pushing half the price of the areas benchmark.

Mas d'Amile Vieux Carignan 2007 I came across at the Montpeyroux Toutes Caves Ouverts day in 2009. There are too few interesting sub 10€ wines in this commune these days, but at least this was one of them. I know little about it except that 2007 was the first vintage, there isn't much of it, and the wine is unfiltered - witness the sediment in the empty bottle. It's also produced by Amélie, daughter of Le Mairie of Montpeyroux, which is perhaps all one needs to know. In the glass there's cool thyme and blackberry and the mouth gets a pleasant coating of meaty fruit, certainly a fine quaff with interest.

I mentioned Mas Gabriel Les Trois Terrasses 2008 here when I purchased a half-case of the then just bottled wine after nearly a year in tank. It has settled down to layers of mint leaf, composting leaves, ribena and wild rose. There's also a ripe freshness and while there's heaps of tannin this stays in the background. I will be stocking up with more - the last bottle posed for this picture and yes, I pasted the image in.