The 2013 Domaine de Lansac Chardonnay is redolent of apple blossom, honeysuckle, fennel, and grapefruit; it offers luscious, mouth-filling flavours with invigorating salty and herbal accents; and finishes with remarkably persistent mineral notes.

The 2013 Pic Saint Loup Coste d’Aleyrac is a blend of Syrah (50%) - Grenache (40%) - Carignan (10%), kept for 12 months in concrete tank. Spice, dried mushrooms, red currants, white pepper are just some of the notes here, and on the palate it is medium-bodied, softly-textured and plummy, with easy-going character and refreshing finish. Enjoy it now and until 2017, pair with grilled sausages with mashed potato, poultry in a cream sauce, or charcuterie.

In the valley beneath the eponymous Pic of St Loup, the soils have a little more alluvium and clay. The wines do not lack for charm, however. Nor indeed for complexity, as the following blend will demonstrate; 30% Roussanne, 20% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Viognier, 10% Sauvignon Gris, 10% Chardonnay, 5% Petit Manseng and 5% Bourboulenc. You are probably wishing that you hadn’t asked! Elevage is reassuringly simple after all that; in stainless steel. The young wine is dominated by fresh nettly Sauvignon aromas but complexity and texture certainly inform the palate, where one detects greengage, verbena, spice and hints of white pepper. An excellent aperitif, when all is said and done.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

Rene’s offering form the South of France is fresh and perfumed much like his white Rhônes. The nose is generous and fleshy with stone fruit intertwined with floral perfume and a touch of talk on the finish. The palate reveals more ripe fruit with flavours of quince, green apple, bitter almond and the finish reveals a delicate salinity owed to a dash of Rolle (Vermentino) which is added to this blend of Grenache Blanc and Viognier. Ideal with a plate of prawns or a tuna salad.
Oliver Barton - Wine Buyer

Grenache, Carignan and Syrah. They have moved to direct pressing to get a lighter Rosé but one that they believe expresses the ‘terroir’ and enables a fresher more vibrant style of Rosé. Raspberries, fresh almonds and citrus minerality. Refreshing with restrained fruit concentration. Fermented in used barriques and aged for 8 months.
Fiona Hayes - Buyer

Aged in demi-muids and barrel for 10 months, this is the first vintage of élevage in the new cave. The nose is layered with cassis, black fruit, cherry and garrigue notes with a pleasant violet perfume. There is a purity of fruit on the palate with layers of spice and thyme; vibrant acidity with a mineral core; grippy tannins and a savoury freshness on the finish. This is a stunner – the best vintage I have tasted from the domaine. Drink now to 2018. By some distance the most fashionable of the “new” AOCs in the Languedoc, Les Terrasses du Larzac is an incredibly exciting domaine. It benefits from altitude, a richly diverse soil structure and significant day-to-night temperature variations, all three of which point towards quality and complexity. If these vines were once “forgotten” they certainly will not be so for long.

The wine is an attractive garnet red with purple highlights. The intense and delicate nose reveals luscious ripe fruit aromas mingled with succulent milk chocolate and liquorice notes.

The supple and smooth attack shows mature, elegant, well-rounded tannins, while the packed and elegant mid-palate expands on red fruit flavours accompanied by notes of toast, leaving an impression of succulence and fullness. Distinguished, the very long finish lingers on elegant fruit.

This spends the same amount of time in oak as the Côté Mer (one year), but the fruit comes from higher-altitude vineyards (450 metres above sea-level) and older vineyards further inland where soils are shallower and rockier. There is no Syrah in this blend, the 60 percent Carignan made up with a blend of Grenache, Mourvèdre and Counoise. Only one other estate has Counoise planted and, although it was acquired by the Parcé family, they intend to keep it as they feel it contributes to the aromatics and colour of the wine.

Darker fruits of blackcurrant, cherry, plum and savoury spice play alongside herbal and garrigue notes, adding layers of complexity. Firm, grainy tannins and a vibrant acidity add to the structure. A real expression of the terroir and region come through in this cuvée.

A more forward, medium-bodied effort is the 2013 Bandol Rouge, which is a blend of 85% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache and 5% Cinsault that’s aged in foudre. Offering subtle barrique in its creamy licorice, spice, crushed flowers and raspberry-scented bouquet, it’s lightly textured and charming, with plenty of character. I don’t see any need to hold off, yet it will certainly keep nicely through 2028.
Jeb Dunnuck - The Wine Advocate #225, 30th June 2016

An energetic and enquiring genius, Michel Chapoutier fell hopelessly in love with the brown sun-kissed schistous vineyards of Roussillon’s Agly Valley several years ago. A few years later the Bila-Haut project was born.

Aged in barrique for 18 months, the 2013 is blend of Grenache and Syrah farmed at 350 metres above sea-level by biodynamic viticulture. The wine has classic Roussillon hallmarks of ripe velvety fruit, with pepper and spice in support and a line of crisp acidity traversing the palate with great elegance. VIT, in case you were wondering, stands for visitare interiore terrae, as in visita interiora terrae rectificando invienes occultum ladidem or “visit the Innermost of the earth and by rectifying you will find the hidden stone”: something to do with terroir, it would seem.

Domaine de Trévallon is located in the medieval town of Les Baux-de-Provence, 30km due south of Avignon, relatively close to the Southern Rhône, but, whereas Châteauneuf-du-Pape glories in heady Grenache and brooding Mourvèdre, Trévallon is an equal partnership of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Cabernet has found a natural homestead in the relative altitude of the slopes of the Alpilles, its generous black fruit core held in counterpoint by the purity and focus of the Syrah.

An idiosyncratic wine, with mint, dark chocolate, eucalyptus, and ripe blackcurrant and blackcurrant leaf on the nose. The palate is superbly balanced, with reams of ripe cassis fruit, full-bodied, but fresh and lively. It has a precision and elegance one would not expect from a Southern French wine. The tannins are ripe and chalky, which is a nice foil to the ripe fruit palate.