2007 La Devèze Rouge Côtes Du Roussillon Villages, VV, Mas de la Devèze

Olivier Bernstein is perhaps better known to BBR customers for his peerless range of Premier and Grand Cru Burgundies from some of the best sites in the Côte D’Or. Before the genesis of this highly successful project, however, he was making wines in the Roussillon, where he still lives, his domaine located in the village of Tautavel which is just to the north-west of Pérpignan and close to the famous property of Mas Amiel.

The vines have an average age of three score and ten and the poor schist-riven soils mean that yields seldom exceed 20 hl/ha. The 2010 is made from 50% Grenache and 25% each of Syrah and Carignan. Olivier aspires to create wines that are ripe, but with plenty of acidity and mineral freshness; some of the techniques learnt in Burgundy have been introduced to this end, with whole berry fermentation and a tendency to shorter maceration being key examples.

The slightly sauvage character so typical of the great wines of the region has not been forsaken, however. Far from it. This is a concentrated, savoury and deeply satisfying wine, the bed-rock of tar, laurel and resinous fruit in no way compromising a fine, refreshing mouth-feel, which is supported by notes of cassis and eucalypt.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)

There is an untamed quality to the best southern French reds that this wine (a classic blend of grenache, syrah and carignan) has in spades. Wild herbs, olives and dried dark fruit make up the brooding core, but, at 13% alcohol and with really lifted acidity, it doesn't feel heavy in the least. A pretty much ideal bottle to drink with a rosemary-and-garlic-heavy leg of lamb or a rich cassoulet.
(David Williams, 20 great French wines for under £20, The Observer, Sunday 13 February 2011)