The Real Wine Fair - Episode 1 - Mas de Daumas Gassac
The Real Wine Fair, organised by les Caves de Pyrène is one of the tasting highlights of the year. The emphasis is on wine growers who farm organically or biodynamically and work with minimum intervention in the cellar. And it covers the world; you could taste wines from so many different places. As always, for the purposes of this blog, I concentrated on the south of France, but I also spent quite some time in Georgia, as well as checking out a couple of English producers, and some favourite Italians, namely Montenidoli in San Gimignano, with Elisabetta Fagiuoli and Vino da Anna from Etna.
Samuel Guibert was showing the latest vintages at Mas de Daumas Gassac
2021 Mas de Daumas Gassac Blanc - £36.50
The usual eclectic blend of grape varieties, but based on Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Viognier and Petit Manseng, with a further fifteen grape varieties. Light colour. Quite peachy on the nose – the Viognier effect. And on the palate rounded youthful fruit, with good balancing acidity. In the past, I have criticised this wine for being too sweet, but not the 2021 vintage. Samuel said they had left about 3 – 4 gms/l residual sugar, which makes for much more refreshing drink.
2019 Rouge - £33.50
Medium colour. Spicy red fruit on the nose, and on the palate good fruit, with notes of cassis, with an elegant tannin balance and an appealing freshness. I liked this a lot; it is elegant and balanced, and was, for my taste buds, the star of the line-up.
2012 Rouge - £48.00
With good stocks of past vintages, they are able release a ten-year-old wine every year. This was quite smoky on the nose, with some garrigues notes. The palate is quite solid and rounded, with quite dense red fruit and some leathery notes, and did not have the charm of the 2019.
2015 Cuvée Emile Peynaud - £250.00
This is a selection of the very best plots and the oldest vines of the estate, produced in memory of the talented oenologist who advised Aimé Guibert at the beginning of Mas de Daumas Gassac’s history. Good colour. Firm dense leathery fruit; red fruit on both nose and palate. Quite sturdy and tannic; dense and youthful. A wine that needs more time to consider than is feasible at a wine fair, with so many other things to taste. So I really didn’t feel that I did it justice.
2020 Rosé Frizant - £16.60
Quite light pink. Fresh raspberry fruit. Lightly fizzy. Medium weight palate; frothy and refreshing. Just the thing for a poolside party.
2020 Vin de Laurence Doux - £16.60
An intriguing blend of Sercial and Muscat à
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