Dark ruby-purple with no edge. Thick tanned leather and mint chocolate are nearly obscured by the piercing warm chalky barnyard funk: a shriek of awakening stemminess and clean comforting horse-stall so vibrant you can not take your nose out of it. You can FEEL the ripeness deep in there, but the sheer affront of the acidity and minerality nearly obscure it.
An amazing small winery with great history in the Cotes de Provence, all organic, hand-tended and harvested and family-run. They produce a couple of astonishing Rosés of course, and this, their new red. I was hand-delivered a sample while in the South of France with the warning it was freshly bottled and terrifyingly young. They weren’t kidding about the young part but oh man EVERYTHING here defines a wine which will settle down in the very near future and reward many more years in the cellar. This reminds me of Rhone wines of 20 years ago before the Rhone started shaping their wines to please Wine Spectator and Robert Parker and I LOVE it.
In the mouth, brilliant fresh fruit showing something on one hand as decidedly American as rhubarb pie, but alongside seed-forward wild elderberry in classic Euro understatement, riddled with acid. Brash strutting tannin attempts a sexy coup but doesn’t have a chance against the body and balance.
2015 DOMAINE DES MAPLIERS Cotes de Provence 14.5
Stephen McConnell 