2006 Mas de Daumas Gassac Vin de Pays de l'Herault

The 2006 Mas de Daumas Gassac red leads with pungent brown spice- and pepper-dusted fresh mulberry and black currant. Like its 2007 counterpart, fresh, faintly tart, bitter blue and black fruits rule the palate, accompanied by smoky black tea, tobacco, and cedar. There is, to my surprise, a slightly stronger sense of ripeness here than in the 2007, and the wine’s lean, bright cast is well-grounded in a palpable sense of sheer density, leading to a finish of impressive tenacity. This promises at least 8-10 years of interesting bottle maturation – again, based on an experience with mature vintages that was recently considerably refreshed. The 2005 displayed a prominently gamy, borderline reductive, and hence slightly off-putting aroma, and its intense black fruits were liberally laced with faintly drying tannins. When Languedoc pioneer Aime Guibert planted his first vines in 1972 and crushed his first Mas Daumas Gassac red in 1978, he was convinced that, improbable though it must have seemed to virtually any other observer at the time, his property and wine would gain worldwide renown. And it did. But a lot of even less predictable changes including grands vins have come to the Languedoc in the last thirty years which Guibert never imagined. Today, the property his children help him to farm has spawned a few experimental cuvees and a parallel line of inexpensive wines from purchased grapes (under the umbrella “Moulin de Gassac,” with several labels), but the flagships remain a Cabernet-based red and (since 1986) a white consisting of Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Chenin Blanc, and (up to 20%) grapes from a multi-national collection of varieties more diverse than you would find in many a commercial vine nursery. As such, it cannot be said that any other Languedoc growers of note have followed Guibert’s lead in blend or style. These wines appear destined to remain anomalies, while the reputation of the Terraces du Larzac area and the Languedoc as a whole has risen to prominence thanks to a focus on Mediterranean varieties and a style far removed from the “classic Medoc vinification” that Guibert still advertises and that his early mentor the famed Emile Peynaud had in mind. Ironically, the tag line used in Guibert’s promo materials is “Wine as it used to be” (Un vin comme autrefois). Various importers, including Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040, The Country Vintner Ashland, VA; tel. (804) 752-3670, and Southern Wine and Spirits d.b.a. Lauber Imports, New York, NY; tel. (212) 268–8033

The Viognier among many ingredients dominates this particular blend and, now that Viognier is so ubiquitous, makes it perhaps less distinctive than this cuvée used to be. Very competently made though. (JR)

The 2006 Mas de Daumas Gassac red leads with pungent brown spice- and pepper-dusted fresh mulberry and black currant. Like its 2007 counterpart, fresh, faintly tart, bitter blue and black fruits rule the palate, accompanied by smoky black tea, tobacco, and cedar. There is, to my surprise, a slightly stronger sense of ripeness here than in the 2007, and the wine’s lean, bright cast is well-grounded in a palpable sense of sheer density, leading to a finish of impressive tenacity. This promises at least 8-10 years of interesting bottle maturation – again, based on an experience with mature vintages that was recently considerably refreshed. The 2005 displayed a prominently gamy, borderline reductive, and hence slightly off-putting aroma, and its intense black fruits were liberally laced with faintly drying tannins. Jun 2009, www.robertparker.com